(CNN) Even by New England standards, this winter cold is brutal.

The storm that killed several people in the Midwest -- including a 12-year-old girl who died when a snow fort collapsed -- left a trail of dangerously cold weather in the Northeast.

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo declared a state of emergency in Newport County overnight and activated the National Guard, after National Grid cut gas service to more than 7,000 residents.

"If you are impacted by the National Grid gas outages in Newport and lack heat, please find alternate shelter," she said on Twitter. "Tonight, will be one of the coldest nights of the year -- it's not safe to be in your home without heat."

If you need to stay in a hotel or call an Uber or Lyft to get to shelter because of the outage, save your receipts and @nationalgridus will reimburse you. — Gina Raimondo (@GovRaimondo) January 22, 2019

In a message on its website, National Grid said it was "experiencing a low gas pressure situation" on Aquidneck Island, which is largely the city of Newport.