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Winter storm Elliot continues to wreak havoc in the city of Buffalo, in the state of New York. In recent days, the worst storm in decades has hit this region of the United States hard and the authorities are looking for the fatalities of the climatic phenomenon. Thousands of flights continue to be canceled due to heavy snowfall.
The strong storm Elliot that is hitting the United States these days has claimed the lives of some 27 people in the Buffalo area, west of New York, local authorities reported on Monday. Much of the country has been under devastating winter conditions.
Those who died due to the freezing temperatures were found in cars, houses and snowbanks, some of them died while trying to remove the snow and others due to the difficulty of emergency teams in responding to calls for help.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown described the difficult task of recovering storm victims: “Our Police are human. It’s painful to find members of your community who have passed away,” adding that the victims “were trying to get out on foot during storm conditions, became disoriented and died on the street.”
The storm is responsible for at least 50 deaths across the country. Rescue and recovery efforts continue. In Erie County, also in New York, Mark Poloncarz described the cold snap as “the worst” of his life and warned that there could be more deaths. Some people were trapped in their vehicles for more than two days.
Polocarz said that “it’s a horrible situation where we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s not the end yet.” The US National Weather Service said up to 9 inches of snow could fall in some areas through Tuesday.
Despite the fact that it is an area used to snowfall, the storm put the emergency services to the test. “It doesn’t matter that there were 1,000 teams and 10,000 more people, nothing could have been done in that period. It was that bad,” Poloncarz said, adding, “I know people have a hard time believing it, but it was like looking at a wall white for 14 or 18 hours straight.
Due to the storm, many grocery stores closed their doors and circulation was prohibited, so some people asked for donations of food and diapers through social networks. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said, “This blizzard is one to remember. It certainly is the blizzard of the century.”
The cold front also knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle. The power operator had asked its 65 million customers to conserve power amid freezing conditions on Saturday.
In Jackson, Mississippi, relief crews were struggling to get water through the capital’s water supply system. In many areas there was no water or the pressure was low. “The problem has to be a significant leak in the system that we have not yet identified,” the city said in a statement.
Climate change, one of Elliot’s causes
According to the scientists, the global climate emergency could have contributed to the intensity of the storm, since for Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, the atmosphere can carry more water vapor, than acts as fuel. “Hard to say, but are the dice a bit loaded now? Of course,” Serreze concluded.
Despite the current gloomy outlook, Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, is hoping for some relief this week as temperatures are forecast to rise. Cook said the strong storm that developed near the Great Lakes, bringing blizzard conditions, including strong winds and snow, has weakened.
Thousands were stranded at airports
Some 2,085 domestic and international flights were canceled on Monday, according to the FlightAware tracking site. They reported that Southwest Airlines had 1,253 cancellations, which corresponds to almost a third of its scheduled flights and about five times more than any other major US airline. FlightAware also said that airports across the country experienced cancellations and delays, including those in Denver, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle, Baltimore and Chicago.
Flight delays in and out of the United States numbered more than 4,500 as of early afternoon. Kyle Goeke, an Alaska Airlines customer, told reporters that he will be stuck in Seattle for days because the airline canceled his flight. “Luckily, I have a friend in this city who helps me, many others have been left alone,” Goeke said.
Another of those affected, David Sharp, said on Twitter that his Southwest Airlines flight from Denver to St. Louis had been canceled and the next flight was not available for two days. Southwest Airlines said it has received hundreds of calls from customers asking about their travel and said it is “doing everything possible” to get its network back on track after the storm.
Local media reported that some of the luggage of the passengers at the Houston airport had been there for two days and that those affected could not locate their luggage.
With Reuters and AP
