Christmas blizzard leaves 17 dead
1.7 million left cold without electricity
A fearsome winter storm continued to pummel parts of the United States with blizzard conditions Saturday evening after its powerful Arctic winds left over a million customers without power earlier in the day and caused Christmas travel nightmares.
At least 17 weather-related deaths have been confirmed across eight states as heavy snow, howling winds and dangerously frigid temperatures kept much of the nation, including the normally temperate south, in a frozen grip for a third straight day.
In hard-hit New York state, Governor Kathy Hochul deployed the National Guard to Erie County and its main city Buffalo, where authorities said emergency services have essentially collapsed in the face of extreme blizzard conditions.
The National Weather Service warned that blizzard conditions in the Great Lakes region caused by lakeeffect snow would continue into the night, including in Buffalo.
One couple in the lake-side city, which sits across the border from Canada, told AFP that with the roads completely impassible, they would not be making a 10-minute drive to see their family for Christmas.
“It’s tough because the conditions are just so bad... a lot of fire departments aren’t even sending out trucks for calls,” said 40-year-old Rebecca Bortolin.
Her fiance Ali Lawson is having back pain, but plans to tough it out at home because driving to the hospital is just too dangerous.
“We can currently see across the street, but last night we couldn’t see past our porch,” said Ms Lawson.
The “bomb cyclone” winter storm, one of the fiercest in decades, had already forced the cancellation of over 3,300 US flights on Saturday and the delay of nearly 7,500 more, a day after nearly 6,000 were scrapped, according to tracking website Flightaware.com.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted Saturday that “the most extreme disruptions are behind us as airline and airport operations gradually recover” — words that travellers stranded at airports including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit and New York were holding on to.
New York City resident Zack Cuyler, whose flight home to Houston last Thursday had been postponed then canceled twice, was “pretty steamed” about the chaos.
The 35-year-old was hoping to reach his loved ones yesterday. “I’m just glad I’ll get to see my family for Christmas,” he told AFP.
Road ice and white-out conditions also led to the closure of some of the nation’s busiest transport routes, including the cross-country Interstate 70, parts of which were temporarily shut down in Colorado and Kansas.
The National Weather Service warned about lethal conditions and urged residents in affected areas to remain indoors.
At one point during the day, nearly 1.7 million customers were without electricity in the biting cold, according to tracker poweroutage.us. Though power had largely been restored by late Saturday, people were urged to conserve electricity and rolling blackouts were instituted in some parts of the country, including in North Carolina. Canadian authorities have also issued severe weather warnings. Hundreds of thousands were left without power in Ontario and Quebec provinces.