At least 31 weather-related deaths have been reported in the United States as brutal winter storm and frigid cold swept the country and brought Christmas Day danger and misery to millions of Americans Sunday, reported news agency AFP. A crisis situation unfolded in western New York’s Buffalo city where a blizzard has left the city marooned, with emergency services unable to reach high impact areas.
"It is (like) going to a warzone, and the vehicles along the sides of the roads are shocking," said the report quoting New York Governor Kathy Hochul as saying. Hochul is a native of Buffalo where eight-foot (2.4-meter) snow drifts and power outages have made for life-threatening conditions.
Hochul told reporters Sunday evening that residents were still in the throes of a "very dangerous life-threatening situation" and warned anyone in the area to remain indoors.
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Power outage due to weather-related conditions on Christmas morning affected over 2 lakh residents across several eastern states in the country and many more had their holiday travel plans upended, although the five-day-long storm featuring blizzard conditions and ferocious winds showed signs of easing.
The extreme weather sent wind chill temperatures in all 48 contiguous US states below freezing over the weekend, stranded holiday travellers with thousands of flights cancelled and trapped residents in ice- and snow-encrusted homes.
Of the 31 weather-related deaths that have been confirmed across nine states, four were reported from Colorado who likely died of exposure and at least 12 in New York state, where officials warned that the toll would likely rise.
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Officials described historically dangerous conditions in the snow-prone Buffalo region, with hours-long whiteouts and bodies discovered in vehicles and under snow banks as emergency workers struggled to search for those in need of rescue.
The city's international airport remains closed until Tuesday and a driving ban remained in effect for all of Erie County, where the lake-side metropolis is located.
"We now have what'll be talked about not just today but for generations (as) the blizzard of '22," Hochul said, adding that the brutality had surpassed the region's prior landmark snowstorm of 1977 in "intensity, the longevity, the ferocity of the winds."