Millions of people battled a deep freeze on Sunday to weather a winter storm that has killed at least 28 people across the United States and is expected to claim more lives after causing a Some residents were stuck indoors due to heavy snowfall and power outages for some hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.
The storm’s range was almost unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the US population faces some winter weather advice or warning, and temperatures plummet below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to Appalachian, the National Weather Service said. know.
Weather woes for travelers are likely to continue, with hundreds of flights canceled and more likely after a bomb storm — when barometric pressure drops rapidly during a storm strong — grows near the Great Lakes, causes blizzard conditions, including high winds and snow. About 1,707 domestic and international flights were canceled on Sunday at around 2 p.m. EDT, according to tracking site FlightAware.
The storm unleashed its fury on Buffalo, with hurricane-force winds and snow causing power outages, crippling emergency response efforts – New York Governor Kathy Hochul said almost every ambulance Fires in the city were all stuck — and the airport was closed until Monday, according to officials. The National Weather Service said total snowfall at Buffalo Niagara International Airport was 43 inches (109 cm) at 7 a.m. Sunday.
Daylight reveals cars almost covered in six-foot snowdrifts and thousands of homes, some decorated with holiday-lit screens, dark with electricity . As snow rolls down wild and impassable roads, weather forecasters warn that an extra 1 to 2 feet of snow could be expected in some areas through early Monday morning amid 40 gusts of wind. miles/hour.
Two people who died in upstate Cheektowaga, New York, returned home Friday when emergency crews were unable to reach them in time to treat their medical conditions, and another died in Buffalo. Four other deaths were confirmed overnight, bringing Erie County’s total to seven. County Executive Mark Poloncarz warned there could be more deaths.
“Some were found in cars, some were found on the street in snowfields,” Poloncarz said. “We know of people who are stuck in traffic for more than two days.”
Freezing conditions and daily power outages had Buffalo residents scrambling to get out of their homes to wherever the heat was. But with city streets under a thick white blanket, that’s not an option for the likes of Jeremy Manahan, who has charged his phone in his parked car after nearly 29 hours without power.
“There was a warm shelter, but it was too far away for me. Obviously I couldn’t drive because I was stuck,” Manahan said. “And you can’t be outside for more than 10 minutes without freezing.”
Ditjak Ilunga of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was on her way to visit relatives in Hamilton, Ontario, for Christmas with her daughters on Friday when their SUV got stuck in Buffalo. Unable to get help, they spent hours with the engine running in the vehicle blown away by the wind and nearly buried in the snow.
By 4 a.m. Saturday, with their fuel nearing the end, Ilunga made the desperate choice of risking the roaring storm to a nearby shelter. He carried 6-year-old Destiny on his back while 16-year-old Cindy hugged their Pomeranian dog, stepping in his footsteps as they trudged through floodwaters.
“If I were in this car, I would die here with my children,” he recalls thinking but believes they have to try. He cried when his family walked through the door of the shelter. “It’s something I’ll never forget in my life.”
The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle. But heating and lights are slowly being restored across the US According to poweroutage.us, less than 300,000 customers lost power as of 8 a.m. EDT Sunday morning – down from a peak of 1.7 million.
Concerns about rotating blackouts across eastern states subsided on Sunday after PJM Interconnection said its utilities could handle peak electricity demand during the day. The mid-Atlantic grid operator urged 65 million consumers to save energy amid Saturday’s freeze.
In North Carolina, less than 6,600 customers were without power — down from a peak of 485,000. Across New England, electricity has been restored to tens of thousands of people with just under 90,000, mostly in Maine, still without power. In New York, more than 39,000 households remained without power as of Sunday, including 27,000 in Erie County, where utility crews and hundreds of National Guard soldiers battled high winds and materials. versus being stuck in the snow.
Storm-related deaths have been reported in recent days across the country: seven in Erie County, New York; 10 people in Ohio, including an electrician who was electrocuted and who died in multiple car crashes; six motorists were killed in crashes in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky; a Vermont woman was hit in the head by a falling tree branch; a seemingly homeless man was found among Colorado’s sub-zero temperatures; a woman fell into the ice of the Wisconsin River.
In Jackson, Mississippi, city officials on Christmas Day announced that residents must now boil drinking water due to a burst line in the frigid temperatures. While in Tampa, Florida, the thermometer dropped below freezing for the first time in nearly five years. National Weather Service – a drop of water in favor of cold-blooded iguanas falling out of trees.
In Buffalo, William Kless woke up at 3 a.m. Sunday. He phoned his three children at their mother’s house to wish them Merry Christmas and then set off in his sleigh for a second day to get people from their stranded cars and cold houses to a church that acts as a warm shelter.
Through heavy snow and strong winds, he said, he brought about 15 people to his church in Buffalo on Saturday, including a family of five who were transported one by one. He also has a man in need of dialysis, who spent 17 hours stuck in his car, back home, where he could be treated.
“I just felt like I had to,” Kless said.
