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Buffalo, Dec. 25 (AP) — Millions of people crouched in the freezing cold overnight and early morning to weather a frigid storm that has killed at least 18 in the U.S. , some residents were trapped inside snow-packed homes and knocked out powering hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.
The storm’s scope is almost unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande River on the border with Mexico. About 60 percent of the U.S. population is facing some kind of winter weather advisory or warning, with temperatures dropping sharply below normal from east of the Rockies to the Appalachians, the National Weather Service said.
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More than 2,360 domestic and international flights were canceled on Saturday, according to tracking site FlightAware.
Forecasters said a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops rapidly during a powerful storm — formed near the Great Lakes, sparking a blizzard that included high winds and heavy snow.
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As the storm raged through Buffalo, hurricane-force winds and snow caused snowy conditions that paralyzed emergency response efforts — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said nearly every vehicle in the city Fire trucks were all stuck — and the airport was closed until Monday, according to officials.
Cold weather and a power outage a day earlier had Buffaloians scrambling to get out of their homes and head to wherever there was heat on Saturday. But city streets are shrouded in thick white overlays, and that’s not an option for people like Jeremy Manahan, who charges his phone in a parked car after a nearly 29-hour blackout.
“There was a warm shelter, but that was too far for me. Obviously, I couldn’t drive because I was stuck,” Manahan said. “And you can’t be outside for more than 10 minutes without getting frostbite.”
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, where Buffalo is located, said an ambulance trip to a hospital takes more than three hours and the snowstorm could be “the worst storm in the history of our community.”
Two people died Friday at their home in suburban Cheektowaga, New York, when first responders were unable to reach them in time to treat their conditions, and another died in Buffalo, he said.
“We can’t just pick everyone up and take you to a heating center. We don’t have the capacity to do that,” Poloncarz said.
“Many neighborhoods, especially in Buffalo, remain impassable.”
Ditjak Ilunga of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was traveling with his daughters Friday to visit relatives in Hamilton, Ontario, for Christmas when their SUV got stuck in Buffalo. Unable to get help, they spent hours keeping the engine running inside the car, battered by wind and rain and nearly buried in snow.
Nearly out of fuel at 4am on Saturday, Ilunga made the desperate choice to brave the howling storm to a nearby shelter. He carried 6-year-old Destiny on his back, while 16-year-old Cindy cuddled their Pomeranian puppy and stepped in his footprints as they trekked through the rafts.
“If I had stayed in this car, I would have died here with my kids,” he recalls, but believed they had to try. He cried as the family walked through the doors of the shelter. “It’s something I’ll never forget in my life.”
The storm left communities without power from Maine to Seattle, and a major grid operator warned that 65 million people in the eastern United States could be without power on a rolling basis.
More than 273,000 customers remained without power Saturday in six New England states, with Maine hardest hit. Some utilities said power might not be restored for days.
In North Carolina, 169,000 customers were without power Saturday afternoon, down from more than 485,000. Utility officials said rolling outages would continue for the next few days.
Storm-related deaths have been reported across the country in recent days: Four people were killed in a chain-link accident involving about 50 vehicles on the Ohio Turnpike; four motorists were killed in Missouri and Kansas a utility worker in Ohio was electrocuted; a woman in Vermont was struck by a falling tree branch; an apparently homeless man was found in sub-zero temperatures in Colorado; a A woman who fell through the ice of a Wisconsin river.
In Mexico, migrants camped near the U.S. border faced unseasonably cold temperatures as they awaited a U.S. Supreme Court decision on pandemic-era restrictions that have prevented many from seeking asylum.
On Interstate 71 in Kentucky, Terry Henderson and her husband Rick were stranded in a car equipped with a diesel heater after trying to drive from Alabama to their Ohio home for Christmas. There was a 34-hour traffic jam on the rig for toilets and refrigerators.
“We should have stayed,” Terry Henderson said after moving again on Saturday.
Poloncarz of Erie County tweeted late Saturday that the Buffalo airport had received 34.6 inches of snow, with some areas well over 6 feet. He went on to say that the snow conditions are expected to ease early Sunday, but lake effect snow is expected to continue.
Vivian Robinson of the Buffalo Spiritual City Ministry of Truth said she and her husband have been sheltering and cooking for 60 to 70 people, including stranded travelers who spent Saturday night at church and without electricity or heat locals.
Many arrived weeping and covered in snow and ice, their skin flushed from single-digit temperatures. On Saturday night, they were going to spend Christmas together.
“It’s emotional for them to see hurt they didn’t think they could take and the relief of seeing us open up the church,” Robinson said. “The people here are really enjoying themselves. A different Christmas.” (AP)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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