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'Blizzard of the century' pushes US death toll to 50

Number of deaths attributed to massive winter storm — most of them in road accidents — keeps rising as officials confirm another fatality in western New York's Erie County, the epicentre of the crisis.

AP

Aerial view of 1901 Pan-American Exposition neighbourhood in Buffalo, NY, which remains coated in a blanket of snow after blizzard.

The "monster storm" that has killed dozens in the United States over the Christmas weekend continued to inflict misery on New York state and air travellers nationwide, as stories emerged of families trapped for days during the "blizzard of the century."

The number of deaths attributed to the winter storm — most of them in road accidents — rose to at least 50 on Tuesday after officials confirmed another fatality in western New York's Erie County, the epicentre of the crisis.

"Unfortunately, police expects that number to rise," tweeted Byron Brown, mayor of the lakeside county's biggest city Buffalo — which has been paralysed for five days by chest-deep snow banks and power outages and where more snowfall was forecast on Tuesday.

As temperatures plummeted, commuters and some residents fleeing their freezing homes became trapped on highways, unable to be rescued.

The family of one 22-year-old Buffalo resident, Anndel Taylor, said she died in her car after getting stuck on her way home from work.

Emergency responders, who themselves became stuck attempting to rescue her, found her dead 18 hours later, possibly due to carbon monoxide poisoning, her family in North Carolina told local TV station WSOC-TV.

One father described being trapped in his vehicle on the streets of Buffalo with his four young children for 11 hours before being rescued, according to The New York Times.

Zila Santiago, 30, said he kept his engine running to provide some warmth and fed his children some juice found in his trunk.

They were finally rescued at dawn by a passing snowplow.

AFP

Residents shovel sidewalks in Buffalo, New York.

State, military police deployed

Meanwhile, state and military police were sent on Tuesday to keep people off Buffalo's snow-choked roads, and officials kept counting fatalities three days after western New York’s deadliest storm in at least two generations.

Even as suburban roads and most major highways in the area reopened, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz warned that police would be stationed at entrances to Buffalo and at major intersections because some drivers were flouting a ban on driving within New York’s second-most populous city.

The National Weather Service predicted that as much as 2.5 to 5 centimetres more snow could fall Tuesday in Erie County, which includes Buffalo and its 275,000 residents.

County Emergency Services Commissioner Dan Neaverth Jr. said officials also were somewhat concerned about the potential for flooding later in the week, when the weather is projected to warm and start melting the snow.

In Buffalo, the dead were found in cars, homes and snowbanks. Some perished while shovelling snow, others when emergency crews could not respond in time to medical crises.

Reuters

A collapsed gas station is seen following a winter storm in Buffalo, New York.

'Worst Christmas'

The perfect storm of fierce snow squalls, howling wind and sub-zero temperatures forced the cancellation of almost 20,000 US flights in recent days, including nearly 4,700 on Tuesday, according to tracking site Flightaware.com.

US President Joe Biden on Monday approved an emergency declaration for New York state, freeing up funds to help it recover from the disaster.

Buffalo's international airport remains closed until Wednesday morning and a driving ban remained in effect for the city, where thousands were still without power.

"You can absolutely go out and walk to check on neighbours, go to open stores, etc. But do not drive," warned the county executive, Mark Poloncarz, in a tweet.

Longtime Buffalo resident Bill Sherlock told the AFP news agency that his home had received about four feet of snow, but that he was lucky to have had running electricity and a good stock of food through the whole weekend.

Those less fortunate "probably had the worst Christmas of their lives," said the 38-year-old attorney — mindful that some homes in his neighbourhood have had no power since Friday.

The extreme weather over the weekend sent temperatures to below freezing in all mainland US states, including in Texas communities along the Mexico border, where some newly arriving migrants have struggled to find shelter.

At one point on Saturday, nearly 1.7 million customers were without electricity in the biting cold, according to tracker poweroutage.us.

Governor Hochul tweeted on Tuesday that the reopening of several key highways in New York, as well as border crossings into Canada, were "a sign that we are finally turning the corner on this once-in-a-generation storm."