At least 75 dead, 27 of them in Tennessee, as early winter storms continue to pummel the U.S.

At least 75 people have died in the winter storms that have continued to pound much of the United States for a week and a half, officials said.

About 57 million people woke up to winter weather alerts Monday, with systems producing freezing rain in the Midwest and the South for residents of eastern Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas.

That freezing rain will continue across parts of the Midwest and the southern Great Lakes on Tuesday, with storms producing periods of rain or snow before moving into Canada.

Another round of freezing rain is expected to break out across the central Plains and the Great Lakes regions Wednesday.

These dangerous winter weather conditions have led to at least 72 deaths directly attributed to rain, ice and snow since Jan. 12, local officials have said.

At least 30 of those deaths have happened in Tennessee, more than in any other state. Many of those deaths have been preliminarily attributed to hypothermia and car accidents, officials have said.

Public schools in Nashville and Memphis remained closed Monday as officials continued to urge Tennessee residents to stay off dangerous, ice-slicked roads.

A pickup truck almost went off a 200-foot cliff in Maury County on Sunday. A local sheriff’s detective who saw the driver losing control stopped to help and called fire rescuers, officials said.

Responders secured the pickup truck and got the man out of his precariously dangling vehicle, authorities said.