In particular, in hard-hit western New York, where the death toll rose to 25 on Monday in what authorities called a “battle with mother nature,” rescue services in the US calculated the sad consequences of the massive winter storm that caused Christmas misery for millions.
A tremendous spread of extreme weather, including a bitter cold snap, seized the nation over many days, causing extensive power outages, lengthy travel delays, and at least 47 fatalities worldwide. Blizzard conditions are still present in certain areas of the US Northeast.
According to flight tracking website Flightaware.com, the recent inclement weather forced the cancellation of more than 15,000 flights, including more than 1,700 on Monday.
The National Weather Service predicts further snowfall of up to 14 inches (0.35 meters) on Monday on top of the several feet that have already stranded Buffalo, a US city that is accustomed to harsh winter weather. As a result, the city is practically without emergency services.
The blizzard has stubbornly refused to release its grip on western New York’s Erie County, where Buffalo is located and which has become the epicenter of the crisis.
“In addition to the 13 confirmed deaths yesterday, the Erie County Department of Health medical examiner’s office has confirmed an additional 12 deaths, bringing the total for the blizzard to 25 deaths county-wide,” Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz said in a press briefing.
Poloncarz noted that the death toll in Erie will definitely surpass that of Buffalo’s tragic snowstorm of 1977, which claimed nearly 30 lives, and that the terrible weather makes this “the deadliest storm possibly in our lifetime, and the history of the city.”
He advised folks to hunker down and remain put because further snow was expected and most of Buffalo was “impassable.”
“This is not the end yet, we are not there,” he said.
Hundreds of people have been rescued by the National Guard and other teams from snow-covered automobiles and dark homes, but more, according to authorities, are still stuck.
Buffalo-born Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, expressed her shock at what she seen during a Sunday reconnaissance tour of the city.
“It is (like) going to a war zone, and the vehicles along the sides of the roads are shocking,” Hochul said, describing eight-foot (2.4-meter) snow drifts against homes and how power outages made for life-threatening conditions.
“This is a war with mother nature,” she said.
The extreme weather sent wind chill temperatures in all 48 contiguous US states below freezing over the weekend.
