THE US state of Texas is currently recovering after a deadly storm caused temperatures to drop to lows not seen for more than 30 years.

More than 30 people have died, and millions of people were left without electricity of safe drinking water.

Janet Lawrence, who lives in Carlisle Road, Hove was living in Dallas, Texas in the late 1970s and remembers the last time the state experienced record-breaking cold weather.

The Argus: Janet was working as a reporter at a local paper in Dallas, TexasJanet was working as a reporter at a local paper in Dallas, Texas

She said: “When the news on television said it has been over 30 years since this happened, I just thought ‘oh yes we were there'.

“My family and I had been living in Los Angeles when my husband got a new job posting in Dallas in 1978.

“At the end of that year we had this amazing ice-storm. It wasn’t as bad as the snow that has just happened in Texas, we didn’t have deep snow, we just woke up New Years Eve morning and saw the whole scene encased in ice.

The Argus: Janet descried the storm of the late 1970s as "deadly"Janet descried the storm of the late 1970s as "deadly"

“Every single blade of grass was encased in ice. All the trees were covered in ice and there were icicles hanging from the letter box.

“Tree branches fell down and power lines came down. I had my son and daughter there from boarding school and it was spectacular, but deadly.”

Janet, now 83, was working as a reporter for a local newspaper in Dallas at the time of the storm.

The Argus: Janet said she woke up on New Year's Day and the road was covered in iceJanet said she woke up on New Year's Day and the road was covered in ice

She said the city and its suburbs struggled back to life as the storm left schools and businesses closed and millions of people without power.

“Wires fell under the weight of the ice and branches broke off, electricity failed in some homes,” Janet said.

“Of course, the electricity failed in hospitals too which was very sad in some ways because people on life support machines died.

“My son remembers cars sliding all over the road and lying in a ditch and there was another incident when we were driving a car and the car in front had a great big sheet of ice over its roof which suddenly blew off in the wind and only just missed the car directly behind it.”

The ice storm of 1978-79 is still considered one of the worst in the state’s history.

President Joe Biden has declared the most recent storm a major disaster as relief workers continue to work around the clock to care for affected residents.

Dozens of deaths have been blamed on the cold, but it could take months to determine the full tally, US media say.