The deep freeze caused by a deadly winter storm that pummeled much of the United States will continue into the early part of the week, according to forecasters, as residents of western New York deal with massive snow drifts that have snarled emergency vehicles and travelers face cancelled flights and hazardous roads.
The death toll continues to rise. The enormous storm has killed at least 53 people in the United States and is anticipated to claim more lives after stranding emergency vehicles and knocking out electricity to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.
Extreme weather extended from the Great Lakes in Canada to the Rio Grande at the Mexican border. Temperatures plunged well below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, where 60% of the U.S. population was under some type of winter weather alert or warning. The National Weather Service reported on Sunday that the cold air that has enveloped much of the eastern United States will be slow to diminish.
This is especially bad news for Buffalo, where hurricane-force winds and snow caused whiteout conditions that halted emergency response attempts and claimed at least 14 lives, according to a Monday morning statement from Mayor Byron Brown’s office. At least 25 people have died in Erie County, where Buffalo is located, according to County Executive Mark Poloncarz’s Monday report.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who activated the National Guard, stated on Sunday that nearly every fire engine in Buffalo was stranded on Saturday and urged residents to adhere to a regional traffic ban. Officials stated that the airport would remain closed until Tuesday AM.
02:39 A deadly storm has left many stranded and helpless.
Huge snowdrifts nearly buried automobiles, and thousands of houses, some with unlit holiday decorations, were without electricity.
With snow spinning down unplowed and impassable streets, forecasters warned that 1 to 2 feet of additional snow might fall in some locations into Monday morning, accompanied by 40 mph wind gusts. Sunday evening, police reported two “isolated” incidents of looting during the storm.
Friday, two persons in suburban Cheektowaga, New York, died because emergency personnel were unable to reach them in time to address their medical issues. Poloncarz stated that others suffered cardiac arrest while shoveling or snowblowing, and advised anyone with heart issues to avoid shoveling. He warned people to remain off the roads and predicted that the storm’s death toll would likely continue to grow.
“Some were discovered in vehicles, while others were discovered in snowbanks,” Poloncarz said. “We are aware of individuals who have been stranded in their vehicles for more than two days.”
On Monday, the entire county of Erie remained under a state of emergency, and Poloncarz predicted another 8 to 12 inches of snow through Tuesday.
During what Hochul termed the longest prolonged blizzard conditions in the city’s history, freezing temperatures and power outages compelled Buffalo citizens to seek warmth wherever possible. People like Jeremy Manahan, however, were unable to do so since the streets were covered with a thick layer of snow, so he charged his phone in his parked car after over 29 hours without electricity.
“There is one warming shelter, but it is too far away for me to reach. “I definitely can’t drive because I’m trapped,” Manahan added. “You cannot stay outside for more than ten minutes without frostbite.”
Ditjak Ilunga of Gaithersburg, Maryland, and his daughters were on their way to spend Christmas with family in Hamilton, Ontario, when their SUV became stuck in Buffalo. They spent hours with the engine running, buffeted by wind and completely buried in snow, unable to obtain assistance.
At 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, with little fuel left, Ilunga took the desperate decision to brave the raging storm to reach a neighboring refuge. Following his footprints in the snow, he carried 6-year-old Destiny on his back while 16-year-old Cindy held their Pomeranian puppy.
Ilunga recalls thinking, “If I stay in this car, I am going to die here with my children.” When the family entered the refuge, he shed tears. It is something that I will never forget.
Hundreds of flight cancellations have already occurred, and more are predicted, as a result of a bomb cyclone that erupted near the Great Lakes and caused blizzard conditions, including high winds and snowfall.
Communities from Maine to Seattle lost electricity as a result of the storm. However, heat and electricity were gradually restored across the United States. Monday morning at 6 a.m. ET, poweroutage.us reported that approximately 59,000 people across the country were without power, down from a peak of 1.7 million. The majority of individuals still having blackouts were in the states of Maine and New York.
Sunday, PJM Interconnection announced that its utilities could meet the day’s peak electrical demand, alleviating fears of rolling blackouts in eastern regions. On Saturday, the mid-Atlantic grid operator urged its 65 million customers to save electricity due to the freezing temperatures.
FlightAware.com said that approximately 1,600 U.S. flights had been canceled as of 10 a.m. ET.
In recent days, storm-related deaths have been reported throughout the United States: 12 in Erie County, New York, ranging in age from 26 to 93 years old, and one in Niagara County where a 27-year-old man was overcome by carbon monoxide after snow blocked his furnace; 10 in Ohio, including an electrocuted utility worker and those killed in multiple car crashes; six motorists killed in crashes in Missouri, Kansas, and Kentucky; a Vermont woman struck by a falling branch; an apparent drowning victim
In Jackson, Mississippi, city officials informed on Christmas Day that people must now boil their drinking water due to frozen water lines.
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