Dozens of Americans have died have died as a winter storm brought frigid temperatures and paralyzing snowfall totals across the US, and officials in the Buffalo area believe the staggering toll wil…
Dozens of Americans have died have died as a winter storm brought frigid temperatures and paralyzing snowfall totals across the US, and officials in the Buffalo area believe the staggering toll will continue to grow there as teams carry on with search-and-rescue missions.
The nationwide death toll from storm, which brought more than 40 inches of snow to some areas, climbed to 49 on Monday, with 27 of those deaths in Erie County, New York.
Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “Unfortunately, they are still recovering bodies.”
Some died of exposure, and some deaths were due to natural causes, he said of the people found dead recently.
The commissioner implored residents, “Stay home. Don’t go out.”
He said emergency responders will go, and have gone, to homes without heat and take people to warming shelters. Too many people, including residents just going out to see the massive snowfall, are going out in their vehicles and getting stuck and blocking recovery efforts, he said.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz tweeted that 14 people in the county had died of exposure, three people were found in their vehicles, four had no heat, three were from “shoveling/(snow) blowing cardiac events, and three people passed away after EMS services were delayed.
He told CNN that unfortunately it appears the numbers will go up.
“I am aware of additional bodies that have been recovered and are being brought to our temporary morgue,” he told The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. “We’ve had so many bodies that various hospitals are full and we’re just having to go through and determine if the individuals have died from a blizzard-related death.”
“It’s just been a horrible, horrible situation,” he added.
The deadly storm comes just one month after the region was slammed with a historic snowstorm.
And snow was continuing to fall Monday. At a morning news conference, Poloncarz noted officials expect between 8 and 12 more inches of snow to fall between Monday morning and 1 p.m. Tuesday. “This is not helpful as we’re trying to recover and clear off streets and get into areas that still have not” been plowed, he said.
While driving bans have been lifted in some communities, one such order remains in place in Buffalo, Poloncarz said, describing the city is “impassable in most areas,” with abandoned vehicles scattered everywhere.
Even emergency and recovery vehicles sent out to help have gotten stuck in the snow as rescue crews and hundreds of snowplow drivers fanned out on Christmas. Eleven abandoned ambulances were dug out Sunday, officials said.
“We had to send specialized rescue crews to go get the rescuers,” Poloncarz told “CNN This Morning” Monday, adding it was the worst storm he could remember. “It was just horrendous, and it was horrendous for 24 hours in a row.”
“We’re used to snow here, we can handle snow,” he said. “But with the wind, the blinding views — it was complete whiteouts — and the extreme cold, it was some of the worst conditions that any of us have ever seen.”
The storm has drawn widespread comparisons to Buffalo’s famous blizzard of 1977.
