12,000 flights were canceled within 3 days

A storm kills 32 Americans and deprives tens of thousands of electricity this Christmas

A restaurant covered in ice during a winter storm in Buffalo, New York.

Reuters

A winter storm, accompanied by icy winds, has swept through the central and eastern United States for days, killing 32 people, depriving tens of thousands of residents of electricity on Christmas Day, and canceling 12,500 flights within three days.

And the US authorities confirmed the death of 32 people in nine states, including 13 in Erie County, New York, which includes the city of Buffalo, where the snow reached three meters in some areas.

Some of the victims were found in cars, others in the streets in the snow.

And the US Meteorological Service said, in its latest bulletin, that it expects about 63 centimeters of snow to fall at night.

"It wasn't the Christmas we wanted," said Erie County Sheriff Mark Boloncars, expressing his fear of the high death toll in his area.

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, who was born in Buffalo and has deployed to the National Guard, acknowledged that it was a "major crisis".

"I have witnessed all the winter storms in the last 60 years," she said, stressing that the current storm "is the worst."

More than 48,000 homes were without power on the East Coast on Sunday, according to the Power-Autige website, which reported power outages for about 150,000 homes initially.

The US Weather Service said it expects temperatures to return to normal seasonal levels "by the middle of next week."

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