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#AceWeatherDesk – The death toll from a Buffalo-area blizzard has risen to 27 in western New York — with the toll at least 50 deaths nationwide — as the region was left reeling from one of the worst weather-related disasters in its history.
Much of the rest of the United States has been hit by ferocious winter conditions.
Those who lost their lives around Buffalo were found in cars, homes and snow banks.
Some died while shovelling snow, others when emergency crews could not respond in time to medical crises.
The death toll from the storm across the country is on the rise, with rescue and recovery efforts ongoing Monday, local time.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz described the blizzard as “the worst storm probably in our lifetime” and warned there may be more dead yet to be discovered.
Some people, he noted, were stranded in their cars for more than two days.
“It’s just a horrible situation that we can see sort of the light at the end of the tunnel. But this is not the end yet,” he said.
The National Weather Service said on Monday that 23 centimetres of snow could fall in some areas on Tuesday.
Scientists said the climate change crisis might have contributed to the intensity of the storm.Many were left to dig out cars from underneath the snow.(AP: The Buffalo News/Derek Gee)none
That’s because the atmosphere can carry more water vapour, which acts as fuel, according to the director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Mark Serreze.
Victor Gensini — a meteorology professor at Northern Illinois University — likened a single weather event to an “at-bat” and the climate as the “batting average.”
“It’s hard to say,” Professor Serreze said, “but are the dice a little bit loaded now? Absolutely.”
The blizzard roared across western New York Friday on Saturday, stranding motorists, knocking out power and preventing emergency crews from reaching residents in frigid homes and stuck cars.
With many grocery stores in the Buffalo area closed and driving bans put in place, some people pleaded on social media for donations of food and diapers.
Relief on the way
Relief is coming this week as forecasts call for temperatures to slowly rise.(AP: NOAA)none
The ferocity of the white-out conditions tested an area accustomed to punishing snow.
“It doesn’t matter if you had 1,000 more pieces of equipment and 10,000 personnel, there’s still nothing you could have done in that period. It was that bad,” Mr Poloncarz said.
“I know it’s hard for people to believe, but it was like looking at a white wall for 14 to 18 hours straight.”
Relief is coming this week, though, as forecasts call for temperatures to slowly rise, National Weather Service meteorologist Ashton Robinson Cook said.
“[It’s] nothing like what we had last week,” Mr Cook said, adding that the bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — has weakened.
It developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow.
Extreme weather stretched from the Great Lakes near Canada, down to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico.
About 60 per cent of the US population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians.
Deep freeze creates crisis across Deep South
This fountain froze as temperatures dropped in the country’s south.(AP: The Advocate/David Grunfeld)none
Days of freezing temperatures in Deep South areas that usually freeze for only hours have threatened dozens of water systems as burst pipes leaked millions of gallons of water.
The problems were happening on Monday in large, troubled water systems such as that in Jackson, Mississippi, where residents were required over Christmas to boil water, months after most lost service because of a cascade of problems from years of poor maintenance.
Frozen pipes were also happening in Shreveport, Louisiana, where some residents had no water on Monday.
In Selma, Alabama, the mayor declared a state of emergency because the city worried it would run out of water.
Workers at a food bank in Greenville, South Carolina, opened their doors to a rush of water and were trying to save food.
Police departments around Atlanta said their 911 systems were being overwhelmed by unnecessary emergency calls about broken pipes.
The culprit was temperatures that dropped below freezing Thursday or early Friday and have spent only a few hours, if any, above 0 degrees Celsius since then.
US winter storm traps New York State residents in cars
The storm is causing widespread disruption across North America
At least 28 people have died in western New York State, most of them in Buffalo, as a monster winter storm continues to batter North America.
A state official said some people had been trapped in cars for more than two days during what was “probably” the worst storm of their lifetime.
Up to nine more inches (23cm) of snow are expected in parts of the state through Tuesday, meteorologists warn.
The storm stretching from Canada to the Mexican border has killed 56 people.
US President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration allowing federal support for New York State. “My heart is with those who lost loved ones this holiday weekend,” he tweeted.
The owner of a small family-run shop in East Buffalo, who didn’t want to be named, said looters broke into his general store on Christmas Day.
“They took everything. People took toys, electronics and speakers,” he said.
He estimated up to $50,000 (£41,000) worth of equipment was stolen. He said he called the police, “but they told me they were too busy rescuing the elderly”.
Mark Poloncarz, the executive for Erie County where Buffalo is located, said: “We can see sort of the light at the end of the tunnel, but this is not the end yet.”
“It’s a generational storm,” he said, warning that the county was yet to begin assessing the “full toll”.
Citing the local medical examiner’s office, Mr Poloncarz said many of the victims had died from heart problems while shovelling or blowing snow. Some were found dead in their vehicles.
State Governor Kathy Hochul, a native of Buffalo, earlier said: “It is [like] going to a war zone, and the vehicles along the sides of the roads are shocking.”
She added that many emergency vehicles had been unable to reach worst-hit areas or had got stuck in snow themselves.
One local family with young children – aged two to six – had to wait for 11 hours before being rescued in the early hours of Christmas Day (Sunday).
“I was basically just hopeless,” the father, Zila Santiago, told CBS News. He said he had managed to stay warm by keeping the engine running and kept distress at bay by playing games with the children.
More victims are expected to be discovered once melting snowdrifts reveal trapped vehicles and allow access to remote homes.
The “bomb cyclone” winter storm – which occurs when atmospheric pressure plummets, causing heavy snow and winds – has disrupted travel across the US.
Forecasters say it will ease off in the next few days, but the advice remains to avoid travelling unless essential.
Thaw on the way to US cold spots
Over the weekend an estimated 250,000 homes and businesses experienced blackouts – although power has been steadily restored.
Storm-related deaths were also reported in Vermont, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Colorado. South Florida’s temperatures dropped so low, that iguanas froze and fell from trees.
The western US state of Montana was the worst hit by the cold, with temperatures dropping to -50F (-45C).
In Canada, the central province of Ontario and Quebec, in the north-east, bore the brunt of the storm.
Ontario’s Prince Edward County, along Lake Ontario, declared a state of emergency and had to take snow ploughs off the streets because they were in danger of getting stuck, Mayor Steve Ferguson told CBC News.
A number of vehicles are reported to have been trapped in snow.
Four fatalities earlier occurred when a bus rolled over on an icy road near the town of Merritt, in the western province of British Columbia.
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