WASHINGTON, Dec 27 (NNN-Xinhua) — A massive winter storm stretching from the Great Lakes all the way down to the Rio Grande along the Mexican border has killed at least 57 people across the United States as of Monday.
Storm-related deaths have been recorded in 12 states, including Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
The winter storm and blizzard before and during the Christmas Holiday have caused the death of at least 27 people in Erie County in western New York State, said County Executive Mark Poloncarz in a briefing on Monday.
“This is a horrible situation. The ferocity of this storm was worse than the blizzard of ’77, and now it appears that we’ve had more deaths countywide,” Poloncarz said, adding that blinding snow has limited rescue and response efforts.
The 1977 storm was called the “Blizzard That Buried Buffalo,” in which 29 people died, most of them trapped in their vehicles, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center.
While driving bans have been lifted in some communities, one such order remains in place in Buffalo, Poloncarz said, adding the city is “impassable in most areas,” with abandoned vehicles scattered everywhere.
At least 18 people died in Buffalo, said Mayor Byron Brown. Some of those deaths are not included in Erie County’s official tally, Poloncarz said, adding that the county was working to confirm them.
“This has been a very difficult and dangerous storm,” Brown said at a news conference. “It’s been described as a once-in-a-generation storm.”
On Monday, Pres Joe Biden declared “an emergency exists” in the state of New York and ordered federal assistance to aid state and local response efforts, according to the White House.
Nationwide, plummeting temperatures have caused power outages to hundreds of thousands as well as warnings from officials about potentially life-threatening conditions.
Washington, D.C., had the coldest Christmas in more than two decades.
Weather forecasts on Sunday showed that much of the eastern United States would remain in a deep freeze through Monday before a moderating trend sets in on Tuesday. Lake-effect snows will continue to result in locally hazardous travel conditions for the next couple of days, but conditions are expected to improve slowly. — NNN-XINHUA