Blizzard conditions persist in US
Widespread power outages, travel delays seen in the northeast
Temperatures were expected to moderate across the eastern and Midwest US yesterday, after days of freezing weather from “the blizzard of the century” left over 55 dead and caused Christmas travel chaos.
Blizzard conditions persisted in parts of the northeastern US, the stubborn remnants of a sprawl of extreme weather that gripped the country over several days, causing widespread power outages, travel delays and deaths in nine states, according to official figures.
In New York state, authorities described ferocious conditions, particularly in Buffalo, with hours-long whiteouts, bodies being discovered in vehicles and under snow banks, and emergency personnel going “car to car” searching for survivors.
No flights
The perfect storm of fierce snow squalls, howling wind and sub-zero temperatures forced the cancellation of more than 15,000 US flights in recent days, including nearly 4,000 on Monday, according to tracking site Flightaware.com.
Buffalo — a city in Erie County that is no stranger to foul winter weather — is the epicentre of the crisis, buried under vast amounts of snow.
“Certainly it is the blizzard of the century,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul told reporters, adding it was “way too early to say this is at its completion.” Hochul said some western New York towns got walloped with “30 to 40 inches of snow overnight.”
Later Monday, Hochul spoke with President Joe Biden, who offered “the full force of the federal government” to support New York state, and said he and First Lady Jill Biden were praying for those who lost loved ones in the storm, according to a White House statement.
Biden also approved an emergency declaration for the state, the White House said.
The NWS said in its latest advisory early yesterday warned that “locally hazardous travel conditions” would persist.
At one point on Saturday, nearly 1.7 million customers were without electricity in the biting cold, according to tracker poweroutage.us.
That number has dropped substantially, although there were still around 50,000 without power Monday on the US east coast.