Winter Storm Forecast: Millions Face Storms of Unprecedented Scale

MISSION, KANSAS — A frigid winter storm swept across the country, killing at least 18 people, powering out hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, and leaving millions uneasy about the prospect of power outages on Christmas Eve. was

The storm raged through Buffalo, New York, with hurricane-force winds causing whiteout conditions. Emergency response efforts were paralyzed and the city’s international airport was closed.

Officials across the country are citing deaths from storm exposure, car crashes, falling tree branches and other effects. At least three of his people have died in the Buffalo area, two of whom received emergency medical care at home, unable to be saved after paramedics failed to reach their homes during a historic blizzard.

Deep snow, single-digit temperatures and a day-long power outage forced Buffalo residents to flee their homes on Saturday to a hot spot. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the Buffalo Niagara International Airport was closed until Monday morning, leaving nearly all Buffalo’s fire trucks stranded in the snow.

“No amount of emergency vehicles can survive the situation we are talking about,” Ho-chul said.

Dizzying snowstorms, freezing rains and frigid temperatures cut power from Maine to Seattle, forcing major grid operators to shut down rolling blackouts to the 65 million people they serve in the eastern United States. I warned you that you might need

Pennsylvania-based PJM Interconnection said frigid weather is making power plants difficult to operate, and is asking residents in 13 states to save electricity until at least Christmas morning. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which supplies power to 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six surrounding states, has instructed local power companies to implement rolling blackouts, but will take action by Saturday afternoon. Finished. A planned power outage delayed the start of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans game in Nashville by an hour.

More than 273,000 electricity customers in six New England states remained without power on Saturday, with Maine being the hardest hit and some utilities saying it could take days for power to be restored. said to be sexual.

In North Carolina, 169,000 customers lost power Saturday afternoon, down from a peak of more than 485,000, but utility officials said rolling blackouts will continue “for the next few days.” rice field.

Those without power included James Reynolds of Greensboro, a 70-year-old man with diabetes and severe arthritis who spent the mornings bundled up by a kerosene heater with room temperatures “around 50 degrees”. said he spent

In the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga, two people died at their home on Friday after paramedics failed to treat their medical conditions in time, according to Erie County Administrator Mark Polonkers. It said the blizzard could be “the worst storm in the history of our community.”

Poloncarz said one trip to the hospital took the ambulance more than three hours.

Forecasters said Buffalo had 28 inches (71 centimeters) of snow on Saturday. Last month, areas just south of Buffalo saw a record 6 feet of snow in a single storm.

A recent storm knocked out the furnace in Brian Laprad’s Buffalo home. He woke up Saturday morning to an indoor temperature below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius).

“This morning I had to go out and dig out the vents,” Laprad said. “As expected, the snow was higher than the snowplow.”

The road was plowed, but progress was slowed by large snowdrifts, abandoned cars and downed power lines.

About 50 vehicles were involved in a turnpike in Ohio, killing four people. A Kansas City, Missouri, driver died Thursday after skidding into a creek, and three others died Wednesday in another crash on icy roads in northern Kansas.

An Ohio utility worker also died Friday trying to restore power, according to the Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative. A 22-year-old man died in an “electrical contact accident” near Pedro, Lawrence County.

A Vermont woman died Friday in a hospital after a broken tree fell in strong winds. A 57-year-old woman died Friday after falling from river ice near Janesville, Wisconsin, the Rock County Sheriff’s Office said.

On Interstate 71 in Kentucky, Terry Henderson and her husband Rick were stuck in a massive traffic jam for 34 hours after multiple accidents. The truck driver survived the wait on a rig with a diesel heater, toilet and refrigerator, but regrets trying to drive from Alabama to her home near Akron, Ohio, on Christmas. increase.

“We should have stayed,” said Terry Henderson after they moved in again on Saturday.

The storm was nearly unprecedented in its extent, from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande River along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some kind of winter weather advisory or warning, with temperatures well below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachian Mountains, the National Weather Service said.

As millions of Americans traveled before Christmas, more than 2,360 flights in and out of the US were canceled on Saturday, according to tracking site FlightAware. During my stay in Mexico Migrants camping near the US border They were in unusually cold temperatures as they waited for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on pandemic-era restrictions that would prevent many from seeking asylum.

The forecaster bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure dropped rapidly in a strong storm — occurred near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions such as high winds and snow.

Western New York State often sees dramatic lake-effect snow caused by cold air picking up moisture from warm water and bringing it down to land. But even residents of the area found the situation dire on Christmas Eve.

Latricia Stroud said she and her two daughters, ages 1 and 12, have been stranded in their Buffalo home without heat or electricity since the snow was too deep to get out on Friday afternoon. said.

“You have to climb over a snowman to get out,” Stroud told the Associated Press. “There is a warming center. You need a car to get there.”

Breed was reported from Little Rock, Arkansas. Associated Press journalist Dee Ann Durbin of Detroit. Jillian Flaccus of Portland, Oregon. Zeke Miller in Washington DC. Emily Wagster-Pettas of Jackson, Mississippi contributed to this report.