The death toll from a devastating winter storm battering much of the eastern United States has risen to 25 in western New York’s Erie County alone, the regional government said Monday.
“In addition to the 13 deaths confirmed yesterday, the Erie County Health Department’s Office of the Medical Examiner has confirmed an additional 12 deaths, bringing the blizzard total to 25 deaths countywide,” the headline said. Erie Executive Mark Poloncarz at a press conference.
“We can see, more or less, the light at the end of the tunnel. But this is not the end yet. We are not there, ”she assured. With this, the balance of victims from storms in nine states of the country rose to 48.
Two people died at their homes in Cheektowaga in upstate New York on Friday because rescue teams were unable to reach them to treat their medical conditions. Erie County Administrator Mark Poloncarz said another 10 people died there during the storm, including six in Buffalo, and warned that number could rise.
Snow is forecast to be “very fluffy,” he added, and, with very little wind in the forecast, the Buffalo region shouldn’t expect the same level of blizzard-like conditions that it experienced over the weekend, he said. the New York Times newspaper.
“We will have more snow, but it is a much smaller impact than what we have had,” Poloncarz said.
The storm stretched from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande Valley on the Mexican border. Some 60% of the US population was under some type of weather advisory, and temperatures dropped to well below normal from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians.
The National Weather Service said Sunday that frigid air “enveloping much of the eastern United States will be severe to moderate.”
New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul said nearly all fire trucks in that city were stranded and implored people to abide by a driving ban. The authorities announced that the local airport will remain closed at least until Tuesday morning. The weather service said snow at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport reached 43 inches (1.1 meters) as of 7 am Sunday.
The North American media added that the snow is expected to end tomorrow morning, with between four and eight more inches in parts of the region, mainly concentrated north of the city during the day, before moving south overnight, said Jon Hitchcock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Buffalo.
