(CNN) — The death toll from the winter storm has risen to 34 in Erie County, New York, as crews continue to clear roads and first responders check on people they couldn’t reach days ago as the catastrophic weather system swept the country, officials there said Wednesday.
At least 25 others in 11 U.S. states also died in the storm, which buried the city of Buffalo in nearly 60 inches of snow, leaving residents of western New York stuck at home — many without heat as the snowstorm knocked out power over Christmas weekend. lines.
“It’s a terrible storm with too many deaths,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at a news conference as he praised first responders, without whom “more people would have died.”
Now authorities are going door to door to conduct welfare checks, Poloncarz said: An EMS task force is checking emergency call locations that authorities couldn’t reach during the storm, while the National Guard will check every home in the coming days. in neighborhoods that lost power.
“We are afraid that there are individuals who died alone or people who did not do well in an establishment, especially those who still do not have power,” Poloncarz said.
Crews continue to dig out roads in the Buffalo area as officials plead with residents to abide by a driving ban so they can coordinate deliveries of fuel to emergency services and groceries to markets. A two-day effort aimed at clearing at least one lane on every street for emergency responders continues to be hampered by hundreds of vehicles abandoned in the snow, dangerous driving conditions and snow-covered lanes, Poloncarz spokesman Peter Anderson said Tuesday.
The county brought in 100 military police officers, plus New York State Police, to manage traffic control because too many people are ignoring the ban, Poloncarz previously said. “We are still having to travel unnecessarily and it is a dangerous situation,” Public Works Commissioner William Geary Jr. said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Buffalo is at low risk of flooding as rising temperatures begin to melt the vast amount of snow and 2 inches of rain is forecast over the weekend, the National Weather Service said.
At least one reported death in Erie County has been attributed to a delay by ambulance crews, Poloncarz told CNN on Tuesday. “Our responders were unable to reach the person due to the snow,” he said. “They were blocked and by the time they got there it was too late.”
Amid the frigid, whiteout conditions, “people… got stuck in their vehicles and died in their cars. We have people who were walking in snowstorms and dying in the streets, dying in snowdrifts,” said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. said. “And people have been found dead in their homes.”
The National Guard carries out dozens of rescue operations
There were 580 New York National Guard soldiers and airmen on the ground in the Buffalo area on Wednesday, according to the force’s public affairs office.
They have two: teams of four soldiers go door to door to see if residents have power, heat and food – handing out ready-to-eat meals, or MREs, and water as needed; and teams of two soldiers and two medical providers are conducting welfare checks, spokesman Eric Durr told CNN.
According to a press release, they had rescued at least 86 people “from dangerous situations” on Tuesday, including a woman who was taken to a hospital just before giving birth.
In addition, a member of the 105th Military Police Company “learned from his mother that a pregnant woman he was close to was in labor,” the release said.
“He went to her house,” it said, “helped deliver the baby and then reported for duty.”
This storm marked the first time the Buffalo Fire Department was unable to respond to emergency calls due to severe conditions, Poloncarz said, citing the agency’s historian. Two-thirds of the equipment sent out to help clear winter snow during the height of the storm also became stuck, he said.
The snowstorm – which Governor Kathy Hochul called a “once-in-a-generation storm” – has drawn many comparisons to Buffalo’s infamous blizzard of 1977 – a powerful storm that killed 23 people.
“The Blizzard of ’77 is considered the worst storm in Buffalo history,” Poloncarz said Monday. “Well, unfortunately, this has already surpassed the number of deaths.”
The national death toll is rising
In Erie County, 26 people were found dead in Buffalo, while seven were in the suburbs, Poloncarz said Wednesday, adding that he did not know where one person was found. The identities of two men and a woman killed are unknown, he said, and he asked anyone with a missing family member to call local police to help with the identification process.
Among the storm’s victims is Anndel Taylor, 22, whose family said she was found dead in Buffalo over the holiday weekend after being trapped in her car by the snowstorm.
After losing contact with her, the family posted her location on a private Facebook page about the storm to ask for help, and a man called to say he had found her without a pulse, her sister said.
The grim effects of the winter storm are widespread, with at least 59 storm-related deaths reported in several states:
- New York: In addition to the 34 deaths in Erie County, one fatal carbon monoxide poisoning was reported in Niagara County. The preliminary investigation shows snow “covered the exterior furnace, causing carbon monoxide to enter the residence,” the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Wednesday, identifying the victim as 27-year-old Timothy M. Murphy of Lockport.
- Colorado: Police in Colorado Springs reported two cold-related deaths since Thursday, with one man found near a building’s power transformer, possibly looking for warmth, and another in a camp in an alley.
- Kansas: Three people have died in weather-related traffic crashes, the Highway Patrol said Friday.
- Kentucky: Three people have died, officials said, including one involved in a car crash in Montgomery County.
- Missouri: One person died after a van slid off an icy road and into a frozen creek, Kansas City police said.
- New Hampshire: A hiker was found dead in Franconia on Christmas morning, said Lt. James Kneeland, a spokesman for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.
- OhioNine people died as a result of weather-related car crashes, including four in a crash Saturday morning on Interstate 75 when a tractor-trailer crossed the median and collided with an SUV and a pickup, authorities said.
- south Carolina: Two men — including a 91-year-old who went outside on Christmas Day to fix a broken water main — died as a result of the storm in Anderson County, the coroner’s office there said. The other victim died on Christmas Eve after the power went out in his home.
- Tennessee: The Ministry of Health confirmed one storm-related fatality on Friday.
- Vermont: A Castleton woman died after a tree fell on her home, according to the police chief.
- Wisconsin: The State Patrol reported one fatality Thursday due to winter weather.
8 arrested for alleged looting
With flooding possible in Buffalo, crews are focusing on clearing major snowbanks, officials said. Still, “about an inch of rain should fall from this system before flooding becomes a problem,” the weather service said.
City leaders are working with the National Weather Service “not only to review what happened over the past week, but also what could potentially happen,” said Daniel Neaverth of the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
All major highways through western New York, including the New York State Thruway, had reopened Tuesday — “a sign that we are finally turning the corner on this once-in-a-generation storm,” Hochul said.
Buffalo received another 1.6 inches of snow on Tuesday, bringing the total since Friday to 51.9 inches and the December total to 64.7 inches, the weather service said. Overall, Buffalo has risen 101.6 inches this winter season, CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford said.
Conditions are improving and lake effect snowfall has finally stopped, he noted. Warm temperatures are forecast for at least the next week, with highs in Buffalo on Wednesday in the upper 30s and in the 40s all weekend.
Officials have also responded to some reports of looting. As of Tuesday evening, eight people had been arrested in Buffalo in connection with suspected winter storm looting, according to a tweet from Buffalo police.
“It is terrible that while residents of our community have died in this storm, people are looting,” the mayor said, but noted, “This is a minority of individuals.”
Erie County Sheriff John Garcia echoed that sentiment Wednesday, emphasizing that “nine out of 10 stories” would be about citizens helping each other.
“People of Erie County, we are good people,” he said. “We have done a great job. We can be very proud of the achievements we have made.”