The death toll from the winter storm across much of the United States has risen to at least 34, according to the AP news agency. Other news outlets gave slightly lower numbers. Victims died in accidents on icy roads, froze to death in extreme sub-zero temperatures or died under other weather-related circumstances, the authorities said. At least 13 deaths were reported in New York State alone on Sunday. There, Governor Kathy Hochul spoke of a “devastating” storm.
The cold zone stretched from the Great Lakes down to the Rio Grande on the Mexican border, affecting millions of people. Even in notoriously sunny Florida, there were frosts. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses from the east to the west coast were temporarily without power.
The scale of the storm, with blizzards, freezing rain, flooding and life-threatening temperature drops, was almost unprecedented. Weather warnings applied to about 60 percent of the US population. Between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains, temperatures fell well below normal levels. Under these circumstances, one could get frostbite outdoors within minutes, warned the weather service.
More than 2,360 domestic and international flights were canceled on Saturday, according to the FlightAware website. On Sunday afternoon it was therefore already more than 1707. The electricity and thus also the heat supply could be partially restored by Sunday. Fewer than 200,000 homes were without power as of late Sunday afternoon EST, down from 1.7 million at the peak of the outages, according to website poweroutage.us. However, the utility companies said that temporary shutdowns can continue to be expected in the coming days.
According to meteorologists, a “bomb cyclone” had formed near the Great Lakes on the border with Canada. It occurs when the air pressure in a low-pressure area drops unusually quickly. The result is severe snowstorms – blizzards – and temperature drops of several dozen degrees within a few hours.
The city of Buffalo was particularly affected. The wind reached hurricane force there, and visibility in the middle of the snow desert fell to practically zero. Emergency services were also paralyzed; several people died in medical emergencies because they could not be reached and treated in time, an Erie County spokesman said. New York Gov. Hochul said nearly all fire trucks in Buffalo were stuck. The airport there was closed until Tuesday. At 7:00 a.m. on Sunday, the snow depth at the airport was 1.09 meters, according to the weather service.
In the town of Cheektowaga, in Erie County, a county in upstate New York, two sick people died in their homes on Friday after emergency responders were unable to reach them in time amid the winter storm. Ten more people died in Erie County as of Sunday evening (local time), including six in Buffalo, district spokesman Mark Poloncarz said. “Some were found in cars, some were found on the street in snowdrifts,” he said. He fears more casualties. “We know of people who have been stuck in cars for more than two days.” In Niagara County, authorities said a 27-year-old suffered carbon monoxide poisoning when snow blocked his wood-burning stove.
At Tampa Airport in Florida, the thermometer showed temperatures below zero for the first time in almost five years, and according to the weather service, there were also frosts in other areas of the otherwise rather warm US state. Even in West Palm Beach, only six degrees were measured, where iguanas fell from the trees. The cold-blooded reptiles are unable to move when it is cold.
Ditjak Ilunga, of Maryland State, was driving with his daughters to visit relatives in Canada for Christmas when their SUV got stuck in the snow in Buffalo on Friday. With no help in sight, the three spent the next few hours in their vehicle, engine idling, shaken by the wind and almost buried under snow. Gas was running low early on Saturday morning and the only option left was to take a chance and make it to a nearby emergency shelter in the midst of the blizzard.
Ilunga carried his six-year-old daughter, the 16-year-old daughter followed in his footsteps, holding the family’s puppies. “If I stay in this car, I’ll die here with my children,” he thought, he reports. When the family reached the emergency shelter, tears welled up in his eyes. He will not forget the experience for the rest of his life, says Ilunga.
