About 100 people are now known to have died in what have been described as the worst storms ever to hit the eastern US this century. The hurricane-force winds first struck the Gulf of Mexico, and have now spread across the Canadian border, continuing to bring record snowfalls, severe flooding and causing millions of dollars of damage. All major airports have now reopened and airlines are beginning to cope with the backlog of thousands of stranded passengers. The storms also paralyzed areas of Cuba where several people were killed and property and crops destroyed.