There were 12 reported deaths as of Sunday amid a devastating snowstorm that dumped up to four feet of snow on Buffalo and western New York, which made it more difficult for authorities to conduct rescue operations.
Some of the fatalities were people found inside their cars while others were found in the streets, said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. The official noted that they know there were people who were stuck in cars for more than two days amid the powerful storm.
Powerful Snowstorm
The situation was the first time in the history of the Buffalo Fire Department that they could not respond to any calls because of the weather conditions. The snowstorm unleashed its full fury on Buffalo, bringing hurricane-force winds and snow causing whiteout conditions, which paralyzed response efforts.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that almost every fire truck in the city was left stranded because of the snow and added that they opted to shut down the airport until Tuesday. On Sunday evening, during a storm briefing, Hochul said that the storm had surpassed the blizzard of 1977 in terms of ferocity and longevity, as per ABC7NY.
The governor urged Buffalo residents to stay off the roads and said that a driving ban for the city was not expected to be lifted on Monday. Out of the 12-storm-related confirmed deaths so far, the ages of the victims ranged from 26 to 93 years old. However, officials said that they expected the number to rise by the end of the night.
In a statement, the National Weather Service (NWS) said that the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport was 43 inches as of 7:00 a.m. Sunday. On Christmas Day, crews were out in an attempt to reach anyone who was still stranded.
According to The Guardian. The snowstorm sent freezing temperatures across the nation and created what forecasters called a "potentially life-threatening hazard." The initial 12 deaths rose to 28 as officials said that the Arctic air "enveloping much of the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. would be slow to moderate."
Thousands Without Power
The NWS said in a bulletin that in some areas, people being outdoors could lead to frostbite in just a few minutes. The service added advisories that anyone traveling or going outside should prepare for "extreme cold" by wearing clothes in layers, covering as much exposed skin as possible, and packing winter safety kits inside their cars.
The storm stretched from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the Mexican border and has been attributed to deaths in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New York, and other states. Roughly 60% of the U.S. population was under a winter weather advisory as of Sunday.
The fierce winter storm also knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across the country. The "bomb cyclone" storm also forced the cancelation of more than 3,000 flights in the U.S. on Saturday, causing thousands of travelers to be stranded as they were making last-minute dashes for Christmas, Al Jazeera reported.
