Death toll in historic winter storm hits 48 victims as Buffalo, NY preps for more snow

The major storm that started over the weekend in the United States and is expected to continue through the week has already claimed 48 lives, including 27 in Buffalo, New York, a spokesman announced today. of that American city.

“Some [people] were found in cars, others were found on the street in snowdrifts,” said the chief executive of Erie, one of the 62 counties in the state of New York, Mark Poloncarz, warning that there could be more deaths.

“We know that there are people who have been trapped in cars for more than two days,” he added.

In Buffalo, the wind from Storm ‘Elliot’ blew at hurricane-like speed, which prevented many of the relief efforts from reaching where they needed to be.

The temperatures well below normal for the season that hit the whole country will remain throughout the week, forcing the cancellation of flights and leaving the roads extremely dangerous to walk, in addition to having led to a power cut in almost 1, 7 million homes and businesses.

Caused by an arctic cold front, Storm Elliot stretches from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico, affecting about 60% of the US population.

Today, the temperature remains very cold in much of the eastern United States, but “there is a trend of moderation from Tuesday”, advanced the National Weather Service.

According to this service, it is still “dangerous” to travel on some roads due to snow, but conditions should improve in the coming days.

The power system is being restored across the country, but about 100,000 consumers are still living in the dark, mostly in Maine and New York.

In the city of Buffalo and on the border with Canada, weather conditions were the worst in the history of these regions, with cities completely covered in snow and airports closed.

But several of the recorded deaths were also recorded in areas such as Kansas, Missouri, Vermont, Colorado, Ohio and Wisconsin, as the local press advanced.

In several cities on the east coast and even in the state of Florida, known for its mild temperature, the thermometers marked minimums that had not been seen for several decades.

New York City reached a minimum temperature of -10.5° Celsius (C) on Christmas Day, which had not happened since 1872, while Washington, the US capital, was -10°C on Christmas Day coldest since 1983 and Tampa, Florida, reached temperatures below zero, which had not happened since 1966.