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A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 27 december 2022

Western N.Y. death toll rises to 27 from cold, storm chaos

By CAROLYN THOMPSON described the heartbreak-
Associated Press ing task of retrieving storm
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The victims from cars, homes
death toll from a Buffalo- and streets.
area blizzard rose to 27 in "Our police officers are hu-
western New York, authori- man. It is painful to find
ties said Monday, as the re- members of your communi-
gion reeled from one of the ty that are deceased," the
worst weather-related di- mayor said, adding that
sasters in its history. Much of the blizzard's victims "were
the rest of the United States trying to walk out during
was hit by ferocious winter storm conditions, got dis-
conditions. oriented and passed away
Those who lost their lives out in the street."
around Buffalo were found In a nearby home, Shahida
in cars, homes and snow- Muhammad told WKBW
banks. Some died while that an outage knocked
shoveling snow, others out power to her 1-year-old
when emergency crews son's ventilator. She and
could not respond in time the child's father manually
to medical crises. The storm administered breaths from
is blamed for at least 50 Friday until Sunday when
deaths nationwide, with rescuers saw her desper-
rescue and recovery efforts ate social media posts and
ongoing Monday. came to their aid.
Erie County Executive Mark Erie County officials said
Poloncarz described the they went to the family's
blizzard as "the worst storm home Saturday but that no
probably in our lifetime" one came to the door. Mu-
and warned there may be hammad said they were
more dead. Some people, there but thankfully her son
he noted, were stranded in This photo provided by the Twitter page of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, snow from this weekends was doing well despite the
their cars for more than two blizzard covers downtown Buffalo on Monday, Dec. 26, 2022. Associated Press ordeal. She described him
days. as "a fighter."
"It's just a horrible situation The storm also knocked out
that we can see sort of the power in communities from
light at the end of the tun- reaching residents in frigid strong storm — has weak- Based on FlightAware data, Maine to Seattle. The mid-
nel. But this is not the end homes and stuck cars. ened. It developed near airports all across the U.S. Atlantic grid operator had
yet," he said Monday. The With many grocery stores the Great Lakes, stirring up were suffering from cancel- called for its 65 million con-
National Weather Service in the Buffalo area closed blizzard conditions, includ- lations and delays, includ- sumers to conserve energy
said Monday that up to 9 and driving bans in place, ing heavy winds and snow. ing Denver, Atlanta, Las amid the freeze Saturday.
more inches of snow (23 some people pleaded on Extreme weather stretched Vegas, Seattle, Baltimore Storm-related deaths were
centimeters) could fall in social media for donations from the Great Lakes near and Chicago. reported all over the coun-
some areas through Tues- of food and diapers. Canada, down to the Rio "This blizzard is one for the try, from six motorists killed in
day. The ferocity of the whiteout Grande along the border ages. Certainly, it is the bliz- crashes in Missouri, Kansas
Scientists say the climate conditions tested an area with Mexico. About 60% of zard of the century," New and Kentucky to a woman
change crisis may have accustomed to punishing the U.S. population faced York Gov. Kathy Hochul who fell through Wisconsin
contributed to the inten- snow. some sort of winter weath- said Monday after touring river ice and a deadly Kan-
sity of the storm. That's be- "It doesn't matter if you er advisory or warning, and the aftermath in her home- sas homeless camp fire.
cause the atmosphere can had 1,000 more pieces temperatures plummeted town of Buffalo, where In Jackson, Mississippi,
carry more water vapor, of equipment and 10,000 drastically below normal almost every fire truck be- crews struggled Monday to
which acts as fuel, said personnel, there's still noth- from east of the Rocky came stranded Saturday. get water through the cap-
Mark Serreze, director of ing you could have done Mountains to the Appala- She noted the storm came ital city's beleaguered wa-
the National Snow and Ice in that period. It was that chians. a little over a month after ter system, authorities said.
Data Center at the Univer- bad," Poloncarz, the coun- Some 2,085 domestic and the region was inundat- Many areas had no water
sity of Colorado, Boulder. ty official, said. "I know it's international flights were ed with another "historic" or low water pressure. On
Victor Gensini, a meteorol- hard for people to believe canceled on Monday as snowfall. Between the two Christmas Day, residents
ogy professor at Northern but it was like looking at a of about noon EDT, ac- storms, snowfall totals are were told to boil their drink-
Illinois University, likened a white wall for 14 to 18 hours cording to the tracking not far off from the 95.4 ing water due to water lines
single weather event to an straight." site FlightAware. The site inches the area normally bursting in the frigid tem-
"at-bat" — and the climate Relief is coming this week, said Southwest Airlines sees in an entire winter sea- peratures.
as your "batting average." though, as forecasts call had 1,253 cancellations — son. "The issue has to be sig-
"It's hard to say," Serreze for temperatures to slowly nearly a third of its sched- The National Weather Ser- nificant leaks in the sys-
said. "But are the dice a rise, said Ashton Robinson uled flights and about five vice said the snow total at tem that we have yet to
little bit loaded now? Abso- Cook, a meteorologist with times as many as any other the Buffalo Niagara Inter- identify," the city said in a
lutely." the National Weather Ser- major U.S. carrier. An email national Airport stood at statement Monday. City of-
The blizzard roared across vice. sent to Southwest was not 49.2 inches (1.25 meters) ficials say the problems af-
western New York Friday "Nothing like what we had immediately returned and at 10 a.m. Monday. Offi- fect "many areas" of Jack-
and Saturday — strand- last week," Cook said add- the Dallas-based airline cials said the airport would son but haven't said how
ing motorists, knocking ing that the bomb cyclone hadn't updated its website be shut through Tuesday many residents are without
out power and prevent- — when atmospheric pres- about the conditions since morning. water.q
ing emergency crews from sure drops very quickly in a Saturday. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown