Winter storm Elliott killed 17 people in the United States, reports NBC. Virtually all of the fatalities occurred in traffic accidents caused by the storm. According to the American weather service NWS, the Great Lakes region, in the northeast of the country, on the border with Canada, was particularly affected.
In Erie County, south of the Great Lakes in New York state, emergency services have been temporarily overwhelmed. Marc Poloncarz, the county official, called on Twitter to call for help only in “most critical cases, where life is in danger“, in order to free the lines.
He called on residents to stay at home despite power and heating cuts. Transport to emergency shelters is currently almost impossible, he added.
Caution is advised
The NWS urged travelers to be extremely careful over the Christmas weekend and warned of so-called “whiteout“, i.e. visibility and orientation greatly reduced by snow.
Trips under these conditions are “extremely dangerous and temporarily impossible“. In addition, very low temperatures are measured. In the state of Montana, -40 degrees Celsius were measured early Saturday morning. Just a few minutes in the cold might lead to frostbite, the NWS said.
