The day after Christmas, American rescuers counted the dead from a severe winter storm that hit the United States for several days, particularly affecting one county in western New York state, where authorities confirmed Monday at least 25 dead.
This border region of Canada has been buried under meters of snow and has been experiencing freezing temperatures since last week.
The death toll in Erie County Sunday night was already 13, but local services have since confirmed the deaths of 12 more people, “bringing the blizzard’s total fatalities to 25,” the blizzard said Monday. morning during a press conference Mark Poloncarz, head of this county.
Some people have been found dead in their cars and others have died of cardiac arrest trying to clear snow while temperatures are still freezing, he said.
“Your veins constrict, which makes it harder for the heart to circulate blood,” she explained, calling the situation “horrific.”
The total of deaths confirmed by authorities in nine US states is now at least 47 dead. In Ohio, weather-related traffic crashes killed nine people, the Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed to AFP.
– “Heartbreaker” –
The Erie County city of Buffalo is still largely in lockdown due to massive amounts of snowfall, including overnight Sunday through Monday, Poloncarz warned.
“Please, unless you’re in 911, don’t drive,” she asked. “Conditions are bad.”
A travel ban was still in place there on Monday morning, but it was challenged by some residents, he regrets.
“What we are doing today is taking people to doctors and nurses and hospitals,” County Sheriff John Garcia told CNN Monday morning. “The roads are finally starting to be passable because the winds have calmed down.”
During the height of the storm, emergency responders were no longer able to reach people in distress, such as those stranded in cars or homes without electricity.
“It’s heartbreaking to get calls from families with children saying they’re frozen,” said John Garcia.
Power has been restored to more than 13,000 homes in the past 24 hours, Mark Poloncarz said Monday morning, but more than 12,000 are still without power. Some will not be able to go online until Tuesday, he warned.
– 1,700 flights canceled on Monday –
Since Wednesday evening, the United States has been hit by this storm of rare intensity, whose polar winds have caused heavy snowfall, especially in the Great Lakes region.
Tens of millions of Americans saw their Christmas weekend upended by massive power outages, impassable roads and thousands of canceled flights, wreaking havoc at airports.
More than 1,700 flights were still canceled in the United States on Monday, according to tracking site Flightaware.com.
Conditions should only gradually improve as the week progresses.
The weather “will continue to cause locally dangerous travel conditions for the next couple of days,” the US Weather Service (NWS) said in its latest national bulletin.
“Most of the eastern US will remain in freezing conditions throughout the day on Monday before a more moderate trend from Tuesday,” he added.
