BUFFALO, NY (AP) — Millions of people in the United States were sheltering Sunday from the freezing cold caused by a winter storm that killed at least 34 people in various parts of the country and spread It is expected to claim more lives after some leave residents cooped up in their homes surrounded by snow and cutting off electricity to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.
The magnitude of the storm is nearly unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Mexican border. About 60 percent of the nation’s population was under some type of weather warning, and temperatures were well below normal from the Rockies to the Appalachians, the National Weather Service said.
About 1,700 domestic and international flights were canceled as of 2:00 p.m. New York time, according to the FlightAware website.
Experts noted that explosive cyclogenesis, in which air pressure drops very rapidly during a storm, occurred near the Great Lakes, where it triggered blizzards and storms.
The storm unleashed its full fury in Buffalo, where hurricane winds and heavy snow crippled emergency services. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said nearly all of the city’s fire trucks were blocked by snow Saturday and officials said the airport would remain closed through Tuesday morning.
The National Weather Service said snowpack at the Buffalo-Niagara airport totaled 43 inches (109 centimeters) as of 7 a.m. Sunday.
Daylight revealed cars covered in nearly 2 meters (6 ft) of snow and thousands of houses in darkness due to a lack of electricity. As snow piled up on impassable roads, forecasters warned of the possibility of 1-2 feet (30-60 centimeters) of extra snow falling in some areas through Monday morning with wind gusts of 40 miles per hour (40 mph).
Two people died in their homes in Cheektowaga, New York, because medical personnel did not arrive in time to treat their health problems, and another person died in Buffalo. Four more deaths were confirmed overnight, bringing the total in Erie County to seven. County Administrator Mark Poloncarz warned the death toll could rise.
“Some people were found in their vehicles, others were found in snowdrifts on the street,” Poloncarz said. “We know there are people who have been stranded in their vehicles for more than two days.”
Heavy snow, cold weather and power outages the day before prompted some Buffalo residents to leave their homes Saturday to go anywhere in the heat. But with city streets covered in a thick layer of white, that wasn’t an option for the likes of Jeremy Manahan, who was recharging his cellphone battery in his parked car after nearly 29 hours without power.
“There’s a shelter to keep warm, but it’s too far to get there. Obviously I can’t drive, because I’m stuck,” Manahan said. “And you can’t be outside more than 10 minutes without having frostbite symptoms.”
Ditjak Ilunga, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was traveling with his daughters to visit relatives for Christmas in Hamilton, Ontario when their truck got stuck in Buffalo. Unable to get help, they spent hours with the engine running in the windswept, snow-covered vehicle.
At 4am on Saturday and running low on fuel, Ilunga made the desperate decision to brave the severe storm to reach a nearby shelter. She carried Destiny, 6, on her back, while Cindy, 16, hugged her puppy and trampled her footprints in the snow.
“If I stay in this car, I’m going to die here with my daughters,” she recalled thinking, saying she thought they should go for it. She cried as the family walked through the doors of the shelter. “It’s something I will never forget in my life.”
The storm left cities without power from Maine to Seattle. But gradually electricity and heating were restored in different parts. According to poweroutage.us, fewer than 200,000 customers were without power as of 3 p.m. ET Sunday, compared with a peak of 1.7 million.
Concerns about blackouts in the eastern states eased Sunday after PJM Interconnection said its companies were able to meet peak energy demand for the day. The Mid-Atlantic grid operator had asked its 65 million customers to conserve energy during Saturday’s freezing weather.
In recent days, deaths associated with the storm have been reported across the country: 12 in Erie County and one more in Niagara County, New York; 10 in Ohio, including a power company employee who was electrocuted and the victim of multiple traffic accidents; six drivers in various traffic accidents in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky; a woman in Vermont who was struck by a tree limb; a seemingly homeless man found in the freezing temperatures of Colorado; and a woman who fell through the ice on a river in Wisconsin.
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Bleiberg reported from Dallas. Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles; Jonathan Mattise and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Ron Todt in Philadelphia; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, PA; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; and Wilson Ring in Stowe, Vermont contributed to this report.
