Since Wednesday evening, the United States has been hit by a storm of rare intensity, whose polar winds have caused heavy snowfall, especially in New York State.
“The blizzard of the century”, which killed at least 25 people in Erie County located in western New York, is not over yet, Governor Kathy Hochul warned on Monday. . The region of Buffalo, capital of Erie County, is the hardest hit in the United States, recording polar cold and heavy snowfalls that block traffic.
“It’s way too early to say it’s over,” Kathy Hochul told a news conference, adding up to 30cm of snow was still expected to fall in the region.
Even if the intensity of the storm is no longer that of recent days, it is “still dangerous to be outside”, she warned.
The governor said it was the worst storm on record since 1977 and would go down in history as “the blizzard of 22”.
At least 50 dead across the United States
Western New York, accustomed to cold and storms, was buried over the Christmas weekend under meters of snow, suffering from polar temperatures since last week.
The death toll in Erie County, which includes Buffalo, was already 13 as of Sunday evening, but local services have since confirmed the deaths of 12 more people, “bringing the total blizzard fatalities to 25,” it said. this Monday morning Mark Poloncarz, responsible for this county.
Some people have been found dead in their cars or outside, and others have died of cardiac arrest while trying to clear snow, while temperatures are still freezing, he said. He said he expected more victims to be found gradually.
The total number of deaths confirmed by authorities across nine US states is at least 50 dead. In Ohio, road accidents related to these bad weather killed nine people.
“Heartbreaking”
Buffalo is still largely blocked, due to the impressive amounts of snowfall. Footage from downtown showed cars across the road, covered in snow.
“Please, unless you are part of the emergency services, do not drive,” asked Marc Poloncarz. “The conditions are bad.”
A travel ban is still in effect on Monday in the west of the county, but it was defied by some residents, he regretted. “What we’re doing today is getting people to doctors, nurses and hospitals,” county sheriff John Garcia told CNN on Monday morning. “The roads are finally starting to be passable because the winds have died down.”
During the height of the storm, rescuers were no longer able to reach people in distress, for example those stranded in their car or at home without electricity.
“It’s heartbreaking to have calls from families with kids, who say they’re frozen,” John Garcia said.
Electricity 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 be connected to the network before Tuesday, he warned.
2,700 flights canceled on Monday
Since Wednesday evening, the United States has been hit by this storm of rare intensity, whose icy winds have caused heavy snowfall, especially in the Great Lakes region. Tens of millions of Americans saw their Christmas weekend turned upside down by massive power outages, impassable roads and thousands of canceled flights, causing chaos at airports.
As of Monday, more than 2,600 flights are still canceled in the United States, according to the monitoring site Flightaware.com. Conditions are expected to improve only gradually as the week progresses.
The weather “will continue to cause hazardous travel conditions locally for the next two days,” the US Weather Service (NWS) said in its latest national bulletin.
“Most of the eastern United States will remain in freezing conditions through the day Monday, before a more moderate trend sets in from Tuesday,” he added.
