China News Agency, New York, December 26 (Xinhua) National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) reported on the 26th that a winter storm that brought widespread cooling and severe rain and snow has killed at least 57 people across the United States.
Among them, New York state, the hardest hit state, reported 27 deaths.
On the same day, Polonkaz, the mayor of Erie County, New York State, said at a press conference that this may be "the worst storm we have ever encountered in our lifetime."
He said that Erie County, where Buffalo is located, reported 27 deaths due to the impact of the storm. Some of them fell ill and died while shoveling snow, some lost their vital signs in a car buried in snow, and some died of low temperature at home. People died because roads were blocked and medical assistance could not be obtained in time.
"We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the disaster is not over." Polonkaz said that the weather forecast showed that parts of Erie County still had snowfall, and he expected the number of victims of the storm to rise.
New York State Governor Hochul arrived in Buffalo on the 26th to inspect the situation and said that this winter storm was "unprecedented in ages" and the city suffered severe damage.
U.S. President Biden spoke with Hochul on the same day and said that he and First Lady Jill Biden prayed for the people of New York and the families of the victims, and had instructed the team to immediately respond to the governor's request for federal assistance to provide federal support as soon as possible.
At present, road blockages, house power outages, and flight delays caused by this winter storm are still affecting people's lives.
According to data from a website in the United States that monitors power supply conditions, as of the evening of the 26th, there were still about 80,000 residential and commercial facilities in a state of power outage across the United States.
According to data from the US flight tracking website, about 3,800 international and domestic flights across the United States were canceled on the 26th.
According to the US National Weather Service, as of the morning of the 26th, the total snow accumulation at Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York has reached 125 centimeters, and on the 27th, parts of western New York will add another 20 centimeters of snowfall.
The Associated Press quoted Serez, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, as saying that climate change may be the cause of changes in storm intensity. The atmosphere can carry more water vapor, which in turn brings more rain and snow.
(use up)