Brutal storm keeping frigid grip on much of Northeast as Buffalo struggles to cope - CBS News

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Death toll rises from fierce wintertime tempest

Death toll rises from fierce wintertime storm, but a warm-up is connected the way 02:26

More snowfall is expected successful parts of occidental New York already buried by what officials country calling a "once successful a generation" wintertime storm. The heavy frost successful the eastbound U.S. volition proceed until much mean temperatures get Wednesday, forecasters say, arsenic residents successful the Buffalo country woody with monolithic snowfall drifts that snarled exigency vehicles and trapped immoderate residents successful their homes oregon cars. Travelers crossed the state proceed grappling with cancelled flights and unsafe roads.

The decease toll from the monolithic tempest has risen to slightest 53 radical crossed the United States.

The utmost upwind stretched from the Great Lakes adjacent Canada to the Rio Grande on the borderline with Mexico and knocked retired powerfulness to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. About 60% of the U.S. colonisation faced immoderate benignant of wintertime upwind advisory oregon warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically beneath mean from eastbound of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians.

"Lake effect snowfall volition proceed done Tuesday northeast of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario," the National Weather Service said Monday morning. "Additional accumulations of 6 to 12 inches are expected disconnected Lake Erie successful and adjacent Buffalo, and 1 to 2 feet for Jefferson and bluish Lewis counties."

That's particularly unwelcome quality for Buffalo, which saw hurricane-force winds and snowfall causing whiteout conditions that paralyzed exigency effect efforts and took astatine slightest 14 lives successful the city, Mayor Byron Brown's bureau said Monday morning.

Across Erie County, wherever Buffalo is located, astatine slightest 25 radical person died, County Executive Mark Poloncarz said astatine a briefing Monday.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who called retired the National Guard, said astir each occurrence motortruck successful Buffalo was stranded Saturday and implored radical Sunday to respect an ongoing driving prohibition successful the region. Officials said the airdrome would beryllium unopen done Tuesday morning.

Deadly tempest leaves galore trapped and stranded 02:39

Huge snowdrifts astir covered cars and determination were thousands of houses, immoderate adorned successful unlit vacation displays, acheronian from a deficiency of power.

With snowfall swirling down untouched and impassable streets, forecasters warned an further 1 to 2 feet of snowfall was imaginable successful immoderate areas done Monday greeting amid upwind gusts of 40 mph. Police said Sunday evening that determination were 2 "isolated" instances of looting during the storm.

Ploughs get stuck during snowfall successful Buffalo

Two radical died successful their suburban Cheektowaga, New York, homes Friday erstwhile exigency crews couldn't scope them successful clip to dainty their aesculapian conditions. Others suffered cardiac apprehension portion shoveling oregon snow-blowing, Poloncarz said, informing radical with bosom conditions to debar shoveling. He urged radical to enactment disconnected the roads and said it was apt the toll from the tempest would inactive rise.

"Some were recovered successful cars, immoderate were recovered connected the thoroughfare successful snowbanks," Poloncarz said. "We cognize determination are radical who person been stuck successful cars for much than 2 days."

A authorities of exigency remains successful spot for each of Erie County connected Monday.

Freezing conditions and powerfulness outages had Buffalo residents scrambling to get to anyplace with vigor amid what Hochul called the longest sustained blizzard conditions ever successful the city. But with streets nether a heavy broad of white, that wasn't an enactment for radical similar Jeremy Manahan, who charged his telephone successful his parked car aft astir 29 hours without electricity.

"There's 1 warming shelter, but that would beryllium excessively acold for maine to get to. I can't drive, obviously, due to the fact that I'm stuck," Manahan said. "And you can't beryllium extracurricular for much than 10 minutes without getting frostbit."

Ditjak Ilunga of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was connected his mode to sojourn relatives successful Hamilton, Ontario, for Christmas with his daughters Friday erstwhile their SUV was trapped successful Buffalo. Unable to get help, they spent hours with the motor running, buffeted by upwind and astir buried successful snow.

By 4 a.m. Saturday, their substance astir gone, Ilunga made a hopeless prime to hazard the howling tempest to scope a adjacent shelter. He carried 6-year-old Destiny connected his backmost portion 16-year-old Cindy clutched their Pomeranian puppy, pursuing his footprints done drifts.

"If I enactment successful this car I'm going to dice present with my kids," Ilunga recalled thinking. He cried erstwhile the household walked done the structure doors. "It's thing I volition ne'er hide successful my life."

Travelers' upwind woes continued, with hundreds of formation cancellations already and much expected aft the bomb cyclone — erstwhile atmospheric unit drops precise rapidly successful a beardown tempest — developed adjacent the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including dense winds and snow.

Another 2,700 U.S, flights were canceled arsenic of midday Monday, according to FlightAware.com.

The tempest knocked retired powerfulness successful communities from Maine to Seattle. But vigor and lights were steadily being restored crossed the U.S. According to poweroutage.us, immoderate 59,000 customers crossed the state were without powerfulness arsenic of 6 a.m. ET Monday — down from a highest of 1.7 million. Most of those inactive experiencing blackouts were successful Maine and New York state.

Concerns astir rolling blackouts crossed eastbound states subsided Sunday aft PJM Interconnection said its utilities could conscionable the day's highest energy demand. The mid-Atlantic grid relation had called for its 65 cardinal consumers to conserve vigor amid the frost Saturday.

Storm-related deaths were reported successful caller days each implicit the country, including a 27-year-old antheral successful Niagara County, New York, who was flooded by c monoxide aft snowfall blocked his furnace; 10 dormant successful Ohio, including a inferior idiosyncratic who was electrocuted and respective radical killed successful aggregate car crashes; six motorists killed successful crashes successful Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky; a Vermont pistillate struck by a falling branch; an seemingly stateless antheral recovered amid Colorado's subzero temperatures; and a pistillate who fell done Wisconsin stream ice.

Cold upwind extended heavy into the South, and officials in Jackson, Mississippi, announced on Christmas Day that residents indispensable present boil their drinking h2o owed to h2o lines bursting successful the frigid temperatures.