The Buffalo storm is the “worst of the worst,” says New York’s governor, with 2.4 meters of snow lashing front doors and power outages in freezing temperatures causing life-threatening conditions.
Governor Hochul deployed about 200 members of the National Guard to help with rescues in and around Buffalo. (AP)
A relentless winter storm brought danger and misery on Christmas Day for millions of Americans, as intense snow and freezing cold swept across parts of the eastern United States, with weather-related deaths rising to at least 29.
A crisis situation was unfolding Sunday in Buffalo, western New York, where a storm has left the city on lockdown, with emergency services unable to reach high-impact areas.
The Buffalo storm is “a crisis of epic proportions” and “the worst of the worst,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a native of Buffalo, where eight feet (2.4 meters) of snow piled up against front doors. and power outages in freezing temperatures have created life-threatening conditions.
More than 200,000 people in several eastern states woke up without power on Christmas morning and many others had their holiday travel plans upended, although the five-day storm of blizzard conditions and wild winds showed signs of easing.
The extreme weather sent windchills in the contiguous 48 US states below freezing over the weekend, stranded vacationers with thousands of canceled flights and trapped residents in their homes covered in ice and snow.
Twenty-six weather-related deaths have been confirmed in eight states, with some US media reporting up to 30 storm-related deaths in total, including four in Colorado who likely died of exposure and at least seven in New York western.
While large swathes of the country have begun to move away from the massive storm and temperatures in some places were returning to seasonal normals, Buffalo remained under the grip of “a major disaster,” a top official said Sunday.
“We have seven confirmed deaths at this point as a result of the storm in Erie County. There could be more,” County Executive Mark Poloncarz told reporters.
He described wild conditions, with hours of whiteout and bodies discovered in vehicles and under snow banks — and emergency personnel going “car to car” looking for more bodies or stranded drivers.
The city’s international airport remains closed until Tuesday.
Governor Hochul deployed about 200 members of the National Guard to help with rescues in and around Buffalo.
“It’s extreme, it’s dangerous and it’s deadly,” she told CNN, noting that even National Guard units were getting trapped and seeking rescue.
READ MORE:
Dozens dead as US storm knocks out power, halts travel
“The conditions are very bad”
The National Weather Service warned that blizzard conditions in New York’s western Great Lakes region caused by lake-effect snow were continuing Sunday, with “additional snow accumulations of 2 to 3 feet by this evening.”
A couple in Buffalo, across the border from Canada, told AFP on Saturday that with roads completely impassable, they would not make the 10-minute drive to see family for Christmas.
“It’s hard because the conditions are just so bad … a lot of fire departments aren’t even sending trucks to calls,” said 40-year-old Rebecca Bortolin.
A wider travel nightmare was in full effect for millions.
The storm, one of the worst in decades, forced the cancellation of more than 1,700 US flights on Sunday, in addition to about 3,500 canceled on Saturday and nearly 6,000 on Friday, according to the tracking site Flightaware.com.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted Saturday that “the most extreme disruptions are behind us as airline and airport operations gradually recover.”
But travelers were stranded or delayed at airports including in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit and New York.
Icy roads and whiteout conditions also led to the temporary closure of some of the nation’s busiest transportation routes, including Interstate 70.
Motorists were being warned to stay off the roads — even as the nation reached its busiest time of the year for travel.
Extreme weather has taxed power grids heavily, with multiple power providers urging millions of people to reduce usage to minimize power outages in places like North Carolina and Tennessee.
At one point Saturday, nearly 1.7 million customers were without power in the bitter cold, according to tracker poweroutage.us.
The figure dropped sharply by Sunday, although about 180,000 customers in eastern states were still without power.
In Canada, hundreds of thousands were left without power in Ontario and Quebec, many flights were canceled in major cities and passenger train service between Toronto and Ottawa was suspended.
READ MORE: Massive winter storm hits USA and Canada
Source: AFP
