US winter storm causes at least 28 deaths and leaves 700,000 without power

A frigid winter storm that gripped much of the United States has left more than 700,000 without power, at least 28 people dead from weather-related car crashes and thousands stranded due to flight cancellations.

The winter storm brought heavy snow, high winds and brutal cold to most of the US this past week.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) on Sunday said this weekend’s major winter storm is the most devastating to hit Buffalo, New York after officials confirmed seven deaths in the area.

According to The Associated Press, approximately 60 percent of the US population experienced some form of a winter advisory or warning.

At least 28 people have died as of Sunday, according to AP.

Perhaps the worst impact was around Buffalo, New York, where 43 inches of snow fell as of Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service, CNN reported.

Erie County officials said the snowfall and blizzard conditions made roads impassable, froze power substations and left at least seven people dead.

And the danger is not over yet, the officials added.

“I don’t want to say that this is going to be it because that would be a fallacy for me to say that, because we know that there are people who have been stuck in cars for more than two days,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Sunday. “There are people in homes who are below freezing temperatures.”

The winter storm brought dangerously cold temperatures, blizzard conditions and coastal flooding to almost the entirety of the US over the past week.

The blizzard conditions persisted Sunday across the Great Lakes, while frigid cold temperatures gripped the eastern two-thirds of the country.

Plummeting temperatures were expected to bring the coldest Christmas Eve on record.

The 1.8 million U. homes and businesses were left without power as of early Saturday morning, according to tracking site Poweroutage.us.

Many electric companies continued to ask customers to conserve energy by not running large appliances and turning off unneeded lights, Reuters reported.

More than 2,700 US flights were canceled on Saturday, with total delays tallying more than 6,400, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. More than 5,000 flights were canceled on Friday, FlightAware said.

A total of 1,440 flights within, into or out of the US were canceled by 10:15 a.m. Eastern on Christmas Day, according to FlightAware. An additional 2,003 flights were delayed.

Storm will ‘go down in history as the most devastating’ in Buffalo

Hochul (D) on Sunday said this winter storm is the most devastating to hit Buffalo, New York. 

“We are in a war,” Hochul said during a news conference on Christmas Day. “This is a war with mother nature, and she has been hitting us with everything she has since the late hours of Thursday into Friday, Saturday and now on Christmas morning. And this will go down in history as the most devastating storm in Buffalo’s long storied history of having battled many battles, many, many major storms.”

Hochul, a Buffalo native, said that she could not overstate the dangers of current conditions.

“All of us think in historic and epic terms, but this one is for the ages, and we’re still in the middle of it,” Hochul said. “We still have people who need to be rescued, we have people with their power off in our communities and buildings where pipes are bursting and flooding is occurring, as is happening in my own home right now.”

Mark Poloncarz, the executive of Erie County, N.Y., which includes Buffalo, confirmed seven fatalities from the storm earlier on Sunday. Officials have imposed a driving ban for the entire county.

“This is not the Christmas any of us hoped for nor expected, but try to have as merry a Christmas as possible today,” Poloncarz wrote on Twitter. “Remember the holiday spirit and why we’re a community of good neighbors. Again, my deepest condolences to the families who have lost loved ones.”

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