The number of US deaths from the winter storm rose to 22. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
A brutal winter storm endangered millions of Americans on Sunday Christmaswhile heavy snowfall and freezing cold swept parts of the east United Statesyes, with min 34 deaths due to meteorological causes.
It was lived in a crisis situation Buffalo, in western New Yorkwhere a snowstorm left the city without allowing emergency services to reach the areas of greatest impact.
“It’s (like) driving into a war zone and the vehicles on the side of the road are shocking,” he said New York Gov. Kathy Hochula native of Buffalo, where 8-foot snow drifts and power outages were life threatening.
Hochul told reporters Sunday night that residents are in the midst of a “very dangerous, life-threatening situation” and warned everyone in the area to stay home.
A truck drives on a snow covered road after a winter storm hit the Buffalo area in Amherst, New York, the United States, December 25, 2022.
More of 200,000 people in several eastern states woke up without power on Christmas morningd and many others had their travel plans dashed, although the five-day storm of snowstorms and high winds showed signs of abating.
Extreme weather conditions brought freezing temperatures to the contiguous 48 US states over the weekend, stranding travelers with thousands of canceled flights and trapping residents in ice and snow-covered homes.
have been confirmed 34 weather-related deaths in nine states, including four in Colorado, which likely died from exposure, and at least 12 in New York state, where authorities warned the number was likely to rise.
Authorities described historically dangerous conditions in the snow-prone Buffalo region, with snowstorms lasting for hours and bodies discovered in vehicles and under snow banks as rescue workers went in search of those in need of rescue.
The city’s international airport will remain closed through Tuesday and a driving ban will remain in place throughout Erie County, where the maritime metropolis is located.
“Now we have what’s been talked about not just today, but for generations (like) the blizzard of ’22,” Hochul said, adding that the brutality matched the region’s previous historic blizzard of 1977 with “intensity, longevity, ferocity “ surpassed the winds.
Some residents were not expected to get power until Tuesday due to freezing substations, with one frozen substation reportedly buried under 18 feet of snow, a senior county official said.
Hoak’s Restaurant is closed during a winter storm that hit the Buffalo area in Hamburg, New York, the United States, on April 24
The national weather service warned of thiss Snowstorm conditions in the Great Lakes region of western New York The lake-effect snow continued Sunday, with “additional snow accumulations of 2 to 3 feet through tonight.”
A couple in Buffalo, just across the Canadian border, told AFP on Saturday they couldn’t make the 10-minute drive to visit family for Christmas because the roads were completely impassable.
“It’s tough because the conditions are so bad … a lot of fire departments don’t even send out trucks to take the calls,” said Rebecca Bortolin, 40.
The nightmare of displacement spread to millions of people.
The storm, one of the most violent in decades, forced the cancellation of more than 2,400 US flights on Sundayplus about 3,500 on Saturday and almost 6,000 on Friday, according to tracking website Flightaware.com.
Travelers were stuck or delayed at airports throughout Christmas Day, including in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit and New York.
Icy roads and white snow conditions have also temporarily closed some of the nation’s busiest thoroughfares, including Interstate 70, which runs through the country.
Motorists have been warned not to take to the streets even as the country enters its busiest time of year.
Extreme weather has severely impacted power grids, and several electric utilities have urged millions of people to cut consumption to minimize blackouts in places like North Carolina and Tennessee.
According to poweroutage.us, almost 1.7 million customers were temporarily without power on Saturday due to the biting cold.
The number fell sharply on Sunday afternoon, although more than 70,000 customers in eastern Germany were still without power.
In British Columbia, Canada, a bus overturned on Saturday apparently caused by ice, leaving four dead early Sunday and 53 people hospitalized, two of them in critical condition.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people in Ontario and Quebec lost power, many flights were canceled in major cities, and passenger trains between Toronto and Ottawa were grounded.
(With information from AFP)
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