LOUISVILLE, Ky. — At least nine people have died in the most recent round of harsh weather to pummel the U.S., including eight people in Kentucky who died as creeks swelled from heavy rain and water covered roads.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Sunday that hundreds of people stranded by flooding had to be rescued. President Donald Trump approved the state’s request for a disaster declaration, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts throughout the state.

Beshear said most of the deaths, including a mother and 7-year-old child, were caused by cars getting stuck in high water.

Beshear said there have been 1,000 rescues across the state since the storms started on Saturday.

Much of the U.S. beyond Kentucky faced another round of biting winter weather.

The Northern Plains faced life-threatening cold, and snowstorms hit the Midwest and Northeast.

Parts of Kentucky and Tennessee received up to 6 inches of rain in the weekend storms, said Bob Oravec, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service.

In Atlanta, a person was killed when a large tree fell on a home early Sunday, Atlanta Fire Rescue Capt. Scott Powell said.

Elsewhere, bone-chilling cold is expected for the Northern Plains with low temperatures into the minus 30s near the Canada border. Dangerously low wind-chill temperatures in the Dakotas and Minnesota of minus 40 to minus 50 degrees are expected.

Meteorologists said the U.S. was about to get its 10th and coldest polar vortex event this season, with the northern Rockies and northern Plains first in line.