At least three people were killed in Erie County, New York, on Saturday, county official Marc Poloncarz confirmed on Twitter. The New York Times said emergency services did not arrive in time for two of them. The reason for this was heavy snowfall. It was said that not even snowplows could clear the streets.
According to Poloncarz, emergency services in Erie County were sometimes overwhelmed. He asked to call 911 only in “the most critical and life-threatening cases” to keep the lines clear. On Saturday, rescuers helped deliver a child over the phone, wrote the New York Times. As night fell, people were still being rescued from their cars on Christmas Eve, he said. Some of them had been trapped there since Friday.
USA: 28 dead from cold
In the US, an arctic winter storm is causing widespread power outages, freezing temperatures and snow masses that are barely manageable. Emergency services have collapsed in some regions. 28 people have died so far.
Deaths mainly from traffic accidents
An 82-year-old woman was found dead outside a Michigan nursing home, according to NBC. A snowplow driver clearing the facility’s parking lot spotted the woman in the snow, NBC reported, citing local police. She later died in the hospital. However, most weather-related deaths were caused by traffic accidents on smooth or snow-covered roads.
AP/Jeffrey T. Barnes Snow removal in affected parts of the US looks like a fight against windmills
Widespread power outages
According to the American website PowerOutage, which reports power outages, up to 1.6 million homes in the US and Canada were without power on Saturday. The storm and snow broke the cables. In New York City, electric utilities urged people to conserve energy. Heaters should be turned on as little as possible, devices such as dishwashers or dryers should not be used if possible, according to a statement from operator Con Edison. These measures would help ensure an adequate supply of natural gas for the remainder of the weekend.
The storm’s center shifted north and is now over eastern Canada, the US Weather Service wrote on Twitter. The region around the Great Lakes (“Great Lakes”) in the northeastern US remains severely affected. Heavy snowfall is also expected on Sunday, which, in combination with strong gusts of wind, could lead to blizzard-like conditions locally, it said.
Minus 33.9 degrees Celsius in North Dakota
The lowest temperature was recorded on Sunday night, with minus 33.9 degrees Celsius, in the state of North Dakota, west of the Great Lakes, according to the meteorological service. Travelers were once again called to exercise extreme caution and were warned of whiteout conditions, i.e. severely restricted visibility and lack of orientation in the snow. Traveling in these conditions is “extremely dangerous and sometimes impossible,” he said.
The winter storm has kept the US in suspense since Christmas Eve. More than 200 million people have received severe weather warnings. Initially, the north and midwest of the country were particularly affected. But there were also extreme frost warnings in southern states. Several states, including New York, declared states of emergency.
AP/The Gazette/Nick Rohlman Barely visible on roads during snowstorm
The NWS also warned of extremely low temperatures combined with high wind speeds, which can lead to frostbite after just a few minutes in the cold without adequate protection. In the state of Montana, in the northwest of the USA, minus 45 degrees were measured over the weekend.
Thousands of canceled flights
The cold front from the Arctic has upset the Christmas plans of many travelers: according to the flight data website FlightAware, almost 6,000 flights had already been canceled on Friday and on Saturday there were almost 3,000 again. American media, citing weather experts, saw in some places the conditions for a “cyclone bomb”: a weather phenomenon in which the air pressure drops extremely in a short period of time and increases the strength of the storm.