BUFFALO — In Buffalo, one of the snowiest cities in the country, residents pride themselves on withstanding extreme winter conditions. But the city and region have been reeling from a ferocious, sprawling storm that hit parts of the country last week and devastated western New York, where hundreds of people were stranded in their cars and stuck in homes locked in six-foot drifts on Saturday.
At least three people have died in Erie County, two of them because emergency responders were unable to reach them in time as whiteout conditions left the roads so choked with snow that even the snow plows could not clear them.
“This could turn out to be the worst storm in our community’s history, surpassing the famous 1977 Blizzard in its ferocity,” Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz said Saturday.
Rescuers were still rescuing people from cars as darkness fell on Saturday – some of them trapped since Friday. As the snow continued to fall, some residents braced themselves for another night at home without power, with no safe way to seek refuge elsewhere.
In one case, a doctor had to speak to a woman in labor on the phone, giving her sister instructions on how to give birth.
More than 25,000 Buffalo-area customers were left without power as of 4 p.m. Saturday, Poloncarz said. Utility crews were due to repair some electrical substations by Saturday evening, but he warned some may not be restored until Monday evening. Rescuers performed at least 50 home and car rescues between Friday and Saturday, including a small child, Erie County Sheriff’s Department Chief Brian Britzzalaro said.
The fight was complicated by drivers ignoring travel bans and getting stuck or stuck, blocking roads cleared for emergency traffic, Poloncarz said.
The storm’s unusual length fueled its devastating impact as it hit heavily populated areas and raged all day Friday and Saturday all day. Howling winds blew mounds of snow more than six feet high, burying porches and parked vehicles. In the hardest-hit areas — including Buffalo, Cheektawaga, Lancaster and Williamsville — two-thirds of emergency responders got stuck on their own and couldn’t reach people, Poloncarz said.
County officials urged people to stay put, even without heat or power, and asked the National Guard to help with rescue operations. Buffalo-Niagara International Airport is closed until Monday, said New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
As the cold intensified and the emergency grew, rescuers used snow plows to transport some residents to shelters, Ms Hochul said.
“Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, you’re from Buffalo, you’re used to this,'” said Tommy Bellonte, 37, who briefly emerged from his Buffalo home on Saturday morning to check on a neighbor. “But you can’t get used to this.”
On Saturday, Americans in dozens of states faced the chilling aftermath of the powerful four-day storm that knocked out power to 1.5 million homes and businesses at its peak. The powerful weather system, a ‘bomb cyclone’ packing high winds intensified by a collision of air masses, upended the travel plans of tens of thousands of people, forcing many to spend Christmas without heat, electricity or with family members.
Temperatures plunged into the single digits in central, southern and eastern states as the massive weather system swept across northern Canada and frigid Arctic air settled in behind it. The cold set Christmas Eve records in parts of the country, including Baltimore, where the temperature dropped to 8 degrees, and Bluefield, W.Va., where it hit a low of minus 9.
On Saturday, the fourth day of the storm, millions of people remained under winter storm or blizzard warnings. Half a million homes and businesses were still in darkness along the East Coast as of midday Saturday, according to the poweroutage.us website; by the end of the day, the total had fallen to 320,000. Maine was the hardest hit, with 162,000 customers without service.
Some residents of beachfront areas in New York have also faced the prospect of leaving their homes for Christmas, after Friday’s storm surge caused heavy flooding in the Rockaways, inundating apartments downstairs. -ground, said Donovan Richards Jr., the borough president of Queens.
At least 17 deaths have been attributed to the storm, including a dozen in traffic accidents in four states. In Castleton, Vermont, a 51-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree, local police confirmed. In the Chicago area, a 54-year-old man died of hypothermia, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner said. In Houston, a homeless man died trying to start a fire for warmth, according to Mayor Sylvester Turner.
As the cold tightened its grip, cities and towns opened heated shelters at fire stations and school gymnasiums, and residents sought shelter, some after spending Friday nights in unheated homes huddled under blankets and clustered around fireplaces in the dark.
After a day without electricity, Shantel Moncrief and her husband tried to sleep in their apartment in South Nashville Friday night covered in sweaters and blankets. Too cold to rest, they moved into their car at 2 a.m., and at 6 a.m. moved to his mother’s house.
“We were bundled up,” said Ms Moncrief, 24. “It just wasn’t enough.”
Nearly 8,000 US flights were halted Saturday due to the storm, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight data. And many who considered traveling by car were thwarted by icy roads, motorway closures and travel bans.
At New York’s La Guardia Airport, more than 50 flights were canceled Saturday morning, and travelers prepared to spend Christmas Eve at the airport or nearby hotels.
Misty and Dan Ellis arrived at the airport for check-in at 3 a.m. with their teenagers. Hours later, their flight was canceled and each family member was reassigned to a different flight, Mr Ellis said.
The family decided to rent a car instead and drive 14 hours to their home in Nashville. The cost would be high, Mr. Ellis said, but he didn’t mind paying it.
“We’ll be home together,” he said, “for Christmas.”
As darkness fell in western New York on Saturday and temperatures dipped even lower, thousands of utility workers and plow drivers faced another long night of work to restore power and clear the roads. With snow forecasts to continue and travel bans still in place, stores were empty of last-minute shoppers and the streets mostly quiet.
For those still in the perilous conditions, home seemed a world away, however close it was.
Frank Anderson, 50, was stuck in deep snow in his large white van on Saturday for the second time since his shift as a prison guard ended.
Still wearing his work jacket with a New York State Corrections and Community Supervision emblem on his left sleeve and with only a spare sweater on the back seat, he found his truck stuck along of Hertel Avenue, his tires spinning on the ice, as he tried to make it to his wife and three children in time for Christmas. He was about “a mile from home” in the suburb of Tonawanda.
“I’m going to miss Christmas with mine,” he said, the truck and the heater still on as he sat inside in the middle of the unplowed road filled with feet of snow.
“I will not walk home,” he added. “If I have to sleep here, everything will be fine.”
Quartier Euan, Eliza Fawcett, Isabella Grullón Paz, Bob Chiarito, Jamie McGee, Ellen Yan, April Rubin, Sharon Dunten and Maria Jimenez Moya contributed reporting.