More than 20 dead due to bad weather-CNN
2022.12.26 00:24
More than 20 dead due to bad weather-CNN
Budrigannews.com – On Christmas Day, a deadly blizzard paralyzed Buffalo, New York. It trapped motorists and emergency personnel in their vehicles, cut off power to thousands of homes, and raised the death toll from storms that have been chilling much of the United States for days.
Since a widespread storm that roared out of the Great Lakes region on Friday brought snow, ice, and howling winds, an NBC News count shows that at least 30 people have died in weather-related incidents in the United States.
26 people died as a result of the weather, according to CNN.
As numbing cold and heavy “lake-effect” snow — the result of frigid air moving over warmer lake waters — persisted throughout the holiday weekend, a significant portion of the fatalities have occurred in and around Buffalo, which is located at the shore of Lake Erie in western New York.
The storm’s confirmed death toll rose to 13 on Sunday, according to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, up from three overnight in the Buffalo region. The most recent casualties remembered some found for vehicles and some in snow banks, Poloncarz said, adding that the demise count would almost certainly rise further.
Poloncarz tweeted on Sunday, “This is not the Christmas that any of us hoped for or expected.” My sincere condolences to the families of those who have passed away.”
It ranked as the fiercest winter storm to strike the greater Buffalo area since a crippling blizzard in 1977 that killed nearly 30 people, as described by New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
Hochul said at a news conference in the evening, “We have now surpassed the scale of that storm, in its intensity, its longevity, and the ferocity of its winds.” He added that the current storm would likely be referred to as “the blizzard of ’22.”
Nearly six weeks ago, western New York was hit by a lake-effect storm that set a record but lasted only a short time.
Regardless of a prohibition on street travel forced since Friday, many Erie District drivers were abandoned in their vehicles over the course of the end of the week, with Public Gatekeeper troops brought in to assist with salvages obstructed by white-out conditions and floating snow, Poloncarz said.
He told reporters that numerous snow plows and other equipment sent on Saturday and Sunday got stuck in the snow. “We had to send rescue missions to rescue the rescuers.”
In an online appeal for public assistance in search-and-recovery efforts, the Buffalo police department requested that individuals who “have a snowmobile and are willing to help” call a hotline for instructions.
Even in a region accustomed to harsh winter weather, the storm’s severity was remarkable.
Christina Klaffka, 39, a resident of North Buffalo, listened to “hurricane-like winds” rattle her windows as she observed her neighbor’s roof fall off. On Saturday evening, she lost power along with the entire neighborhood, and on Sunday morning, she was still without power.
When I tried to watch the Buffalo Bills vs. Chicago Bears game, my television kept flickering. She stated, “I lost power shortly after the third quarter.”
John Burns, 58, a retiree in North Buffalo, claims that the storm and extreme cold that he described as “mean and nasty” kept him and his family in their home for 36 hours.
“Nobody left. “He said that no one was even walking their dogs. For two days, nothing happened.”
He went on to say that strong winds made it difficult to estimate the total amount of snowfall because they reduced accumulation between houses but piled up a 5-foot (1.5-meter) drift “in front of my garage.”
The Biden administration had agreed to support Hochul’s request for a federal disaster declaration, she informed reporters on Sunday.
More Cry for help in Afghanistan to World community
According to Hochul, about 200 members of the National Guard were mobilized in western New York to assist police and fire crews, carry out wellness checks, and deliver supplies to shelters.
After knocking out power to as many as 1.5 million customers at the height of the outages late last week and forcing thousands of commercial flight cancellations during the busy holiday travel period, the larger storm system was moving east on Sunday.
According to PowerOutage.us, less than 1.8 million homes and businesses in the United States were without power on Sunday, down from over 150,000 as of early Saturday. According to Poloncarz, 15,000 people in Buffalo were still without electricity as of Sunday evening.
He stated that an 18-foot-tall snow mound sealed off one of the shut down electrical substations, and utility workers discovered that the entire facility was frozen inside.
According to National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Rich Otto, Christmas Day temperatures are beginning to recover from Saturday’s widespread near-zero readings, but they remain well below average across the central and eastern United States and below freezing as far south as the Gulf Coast.
The most recent NWS tally indicates that by Sunday, the airport in Buffalo had received nearly 4 feet of snow. Whiteout conditions continued south of Buffalo into the afternoon as continuing squalls dumped 2-3 inches of snow per hour.
Since Friday, officials in Kentucky have confirmed three storm-related deaths. In Ohio, where a 50-vehicle pileup shut down the Ohio Turnpike during a blizzard on Friday, at least four people died and several were injured in auto accidents.
