The “Blizzard of the Century”, according to the expression of the governor of the State of New York, Kathy Hochul, has caused more than sixty deaths in the United States. By Tuesday, Dec. 27, the snow had stopped falling in northwest Buffalo, the epicenter of the winter Storm Elliott that made Christmas a nightmarish weekend for millions of Americans.
However, traffic continued to be banned in this city of 280,000 whose streets were buried under six feet of snow. The firefighters were trying to clear the immobilized cars – several hundred – and the trees fell under the effect of particularly violent winds. The authorities have asked the National Guard to enforce the travel ban decreed to facilitate rescue operations and restore electricity.
The death toll in Erie County, including Buffalo, on Tuesday was 31 storm-related deaths, half the number of fatalities nationwide. A figure higher than the results of the 1977 blizzard (twenty-nine dead), remembered in this region near Niagara Falls, where winter is particularly harsh. The blizzard surpassed that of 1977 in terms of wind power, snow intensity (thirty-seven hours non-stop) and lack of visibility. The gusts reached 120 km/h. The international airport received 1.2 meters of snow in a day and a half, three times more than in 1977. As of Wednesday, December 28, it had still not reopened.
Rescuers fear the toll will rise as they go through the 420 calls to 911 that have gone unanswered, with the firefighters themselves stranded by the blizzard. “Rescuers had to come to the aid of other rescuers”Buffalo Deputy Mayor Crystal Rodriguez-Dabney told CNN. the Washington Post he cited the testimony of a nurse who was stranded in her ambulance for fourteen hours with no water or food. “Unfortunately we continue to find bodies in the streets and in the snowdrifts”County Executive Mark Poloncarz told CNN.
Many gestures of solidarity
Three new victims were found in Erie County on Tuesday, including a man who was poisoned with carbon dioxide when snow covered his stove vent. Anndel Taylor, a 22-year-old nursing assistant, died in her car, trapped in snow, as she drove home to North Carolina, according to her family. Until the last minute, she was able to send videos to her relatives showing the pattern of the snow around her vehicle. According to her sister, Tomeshia Brown, the young woman did not freeze to death – she was not even wearing a coat – but she was asphyxiated. Her body was not found until eighteen hours later.
You still have 32.7% of this article to read. The following is for subscribers only.
