According to her mother-in-law, she called for help many times, but they never reached her. She believes that the young woman would still be alive if the authorities had been better prepared.
Anndel Taylor, 22, is one of 50 victims of what authorities are calling “the blizzard of the century” hitting the United States and Canada. She died stranded in her car, in Buffalo, New York, a city particularly damaged by this historic storm.
Last Friday, Anndel Taylor worked from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the nearby town, where she was training as a nurse. A driving ban was issued at 9 a.m., when the young woman was already at work.
Anndel Taylor left work 20 minutes early to escape in the blizzard, nevertheless, she still got caught in the considerable amount of snow that had already fallen in the area. She was minutes from home when her car got stuck.
In an interview granted this Tuesday to the New York PostAnndel Taylor’s mother-in-law says the young nurse would still be alive if the authorities had been better prepared.
“So many lives could probably have been saved if they had put the travel ban in place the night before,” said Laneesha Smith.
Laneesha Smith explains that her daughter-in-law has called for help many times and that her relatives have done the same. They also tried to take their vehicle to pick her up but couldn’t reach her because of the snow.
“The emergency services kept telling her that they were going to try to reach her, but nothing. They never succeeded,” laments Laneesha Smith.
According to county official Mark Poloncarz, the snow and the wind were so abundant and the visibility so poor that the help could not circulate normally, in particular because of the many vehicles blocked on the road.
“They said they were prepared for this storm, but they weren’t prepared for this storm,” the victim’s mother-in-law said.
The body recovered two days later
The latter tells New York Post that she last heard from Anndel Taylor shortly after noon on Christmas Eve and appeared to be well. The young woman has also sent videos of the snow around her car to her relatives.
“She had half a tank of gas left, so she was going to run the car for a little while, then turn it off and on again,” says Laneesha Smith. When she called her daughter-in-law later, she was no longer answering the phone.
She adds that the next day, Saturday, the emergency services did not pick up the young woman, although a passerby reported the presence of her inert body in the car. Therefore, it was his relatives who went to recover the body of the victim on Sunday.
