32 killed as snow storm continues hitting US

WASHINGTON: A brutal winter storm brought Christmas Day danger and misery to millions of Americans on Sunday as intense snow and frigid cold gripped parts of the eastern United States, with weather-related deaths rising to at least 32.

A crisis situation unfolded in Buffalo, in western New York, where a blizzard left the city marooned, with emergency services unable to reach the worst-hit areas.

“It is [like] going to a war zone, and the vehicles along the sides of the roads are shocking,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a native of Buffalo, where 2.4 metre snow drifts and power outages have made for life-threatening conditions. Hochul told reporters on Sunday evening that residents were still in the throes of a “very dangerous life-threatening situation” and warned anyone in the area to remain indoors.

More than 200,000 people across several eastern states woke up without power on Christmas morning and many more had their holiday travel plans upended, although the five-day-long storm featuring blizzard conditions and ferocious winds showed signs of easing.

The extreme weather sent wind chill temperatures in all 48 contiguous US states below freezing over the weekend, stranded holiday travellers with thousands of flights cancelled and trapped residents in ice- and snow-encrusted homes. Thirty-two weather-related deaths have been confirmed across nine states, including at least 13 in Erie County where Buffalo is located, with officials warning the number is sure to rise.

Officials described historically dangerous conditions in the snow-prone Buffalo region, with hours-long whiteouts and bodies discovered in vehicles and under snow banks as emergency workers struggled to search for those in need of rescue. The city’s international airport remains closed until Tuesday and a driving ban remained in effect for all of Erie County.

“We now have what’ll be talked about not just today but for generations (as) the blizzard of ’22,” Hochul said, adding that the brutality had surpassed the region’s prior landmark snowstorm of 1977 in “intensity, the longevity, the ferocity of the winds”. Due to frozen electric substations, some residents were not expected to regain power until Tuesday, with one frozen substation reportedly buried under 5.5 metres of snow, a senior county official said.