The severe winter storm hitting the United States for several days has caused the death of at least 47 people in the country, including 25 in a single county in New York State, and this “blizzard of the century” is far from over, authorities warned on Monday, December 26.
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“It’s far too early to say it’s over”warned New York Governor Kathy Hochul, saying up to 30 cm of snow was still expected to fall. “It’s clearly the blizzard of the century”, she added during a press conference from the city of Buffalo, where she was born. Even if the intensity of the storm is no longer that of the past few days, it is “always dangerous to be outside”she warned.
At least 47 dead in total
Western New York, accustomed to cold and storms, was buried over the Christmas weekend under meters of snow, suffering from polar temperatures since last week.
As of Sunday evening, the death toll in Erie County, which includes Buffalo, was already 13 dead, but local services have since confirmed the deaths of 12 more people, “bringing total blizzard deaths to 25”said Monday morning Mark Poloncarz, responsible for this county.
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Some people have been found dead in their cars or outside, and others have died of cardiac arrest while trying to clear snow, while temperatures are still freezing, he said. He said he expected more victims to be found gradually.
The total of deaths confirmed by authorities across nine US states is at least 47 dead. In Ohio, road accidents linked to these bad weather killed nine people, the Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed to AFP.
” Heartbreaking “
Buffalo is still largely stuck, due to massive amounts of snowfall. Footage from downtown showed cars across the road, covered in snow. A travel ban was still in effect on Monday in the west of the county, but it was defied by some residents, he regretted.
“What we are doing today is getting people to doctors, nurses and hospitals”explained Monday morning on CNN John Garcia, the county sheriff. “The roads are finally starting to be passable because the winds have died down. »
During the height of the storm, rescuers were no longer able to reach people in distress, for example those stranded in their car or at home without electricity. “It is heartbreaking to have calls from families with children, who say they are frozen”said the sheriff.
Electricity has been restored to more than 13,000 homes in the past 24 hours, Mark Poloncarz said Monday morning, but more than 12,000 are still without power. Some will not be able to be connected to the network before Tuesday, he warned.
2,700 flights canceled
Since Wednesday evening, the United States has been hit by this storm of rare intensity, whose icy winds have caused heavy snowfall, especially in the Great Lakes region.
Tens of millions of Americans saw their Christmas weekend turned upside down by massive power outages, impassable roads and thousands of canceled flights, causing chaos at airports. As of Monday, more than 2,600 flights were still canceled in the United States, according to the monitoring site Flightaware.com.
Conditions are expected to improve only gradually as the week progresses. Weather “will continue to cause dangerous travel conditions locally for the next two days”the US Weather Service (NWS) said in its latest national bulletin.
“Most of the eastern United States will remain in freezing conditions through the day Monday, before a more moderate trend sets in from Tuesday”he added.
