At least 34 people dead and most of the United States under weather warning Freezing conditions from a deadly winter storm in the United States will continue into the week as people in western New York face massive snow drifts that smother emergency vehicles, and travelers. across the country saw canceled flights and treacherous roads.
The storm has killed at least 34 people and is expected to claim many more after trapping som residents inside and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.
Extreme weather stretches from the Great Lakes on the Canadian border to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the US population is facing some sort of winter weather warning or warning, and temperatures dip below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians.
Across the border in Canada, authorities say a bus rolled over on an icy highway in British Columbia on Christmas Eve, killing four people and injuring three dozen. Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Sunday that the bus crashed on Highway 97C east of Merritt.
The National Weather Service in the US said Sunday that cold Arctic air blanketing much of the eastern part of the country was moving slowly – especially unwelcome news for Buffalo, which saw strong winds and snow cause whiteout conditions that crippled emergency response efforts.
Nearly every fire truck in Buffalo was stranded Saturday, said the governor of New York state, Kathy Hochul, who asked people Sunday to respect the continued driving ban. Officials said the airport would be closed until Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service said total snow at Buffalo Niagara international airport stood at 43 inches (109 cm) as of 7 a.m. on Sunday. Enormous snowdrifts almost covered cars and there were thousands of homes blacked out due to a lack of electricity, along with their darkened holiday displays.
With snow swirling on untouched and impassable roads, two feet of snow was forecast more likely in some areas through Monday morning amid gusts of 40mph (64km/h). Police said late Sunday that there were two "isolated" cases of looting during the storm.
Two people died in their homes in suburban Cheektowaga, New York, on Friday when emergency crews were unable to reach them in time to treat their medical conditions. Ten more people died there during the storm, including six in Buffalo, said Erie county executive Mark Poloncarz, who warned there could be more deaths.
"Some were found in cars, some were found on the road in the snow," said Poloncarz. "We know of people who have been stuck in cars for more than two days."
Ditjak Ilunga of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was on his way to visit relatives in Hamilton, Ontario, for Christmas with his daughter on Friday when their SUV got stuck in Buffalo. Unable to get help, they spent hours with their engines running, buffeted by winds and nearly buried in snow.
At 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, running low on fuel, the Ilunga chose to risk the roaring storm to reach the nearest shelter. She carried six-year-old Destiny on her back while 16-year-old Cindy clutched their pomeranian pup, following her footprints through the current.
“If I stay in this car, I will die here with my children,” recalls Ilunga thoughtfully. He wept as the family walked through the shelter's doors. “That is something I will never forget in my life.”
Travelers' weather woes continue, with hundreds of flight cancellations already and more expected after cyclone bombs - when atmospheric pressure drops rapidly in a strong storm - develop near the Great Lakes, triggering blizzard conditions, including high winds and snow.
The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle. But heat and light are continuing to be restored across the US. The power-tracking site showed fewer than 200,000 customers without power Sunday at 3 p.m. EDT — down from a peak of 1.7 million.
Concerns about rolling blackouts across the eastern state eased Sunday after PJM Interconnects said its utility can meet the day's peak electricity demand. The mid-Atlantic grid operator has asked its 65 million consumers to conserve energy amid Saturday's freeze.
Hurricane-related deaths were reported in recent days across the country: 12 in Erie County, New York, aged 26 to 93, and another in the Niagara area where a 27-year-old man was struck by carbon monoxide. after the snow blocked his furnace; 10 in Ohio, including a utility worker who was electrocuted and those killed in multiple car crashes; six motorists died in crashes in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky; a Vermont woman crushed by a falling branch; a man who appears to be homeless is found amid Colorado's subzero temperatures; and a woman who fell through the ice of a Wisconsin river.
In Jackson, Mississippi, city officials announced on Christmas Day residents had to boil their drinking water because drains froze and burst.