More than 315,000 homes and businesses across the country were without power on Christmas Eve, thanks to an arctic blast and a winter storm that toppled power lines with destructive winds, heavy snow. and dangerously low temperatures – conditions that killed at least 22 people.
The frigid air continues across the US this holiday weekend, hitting northern parts of the Midwest and the interior of the Northeast with heavy snow and blizzard conditions.
Particularly in the Buffalo area of New York, heavy snow and high winds at times made visibility close to zero Friday through Saturday.
In Erie County, which includes Buffalo, blizzard conditions are expected to continue through at least Sunday morning, County Executive Mark Poloncarz told reporters Saturday.
The winter storm could continue for at least the next 36 hours, with the blizzard warning in effect until 7 am on Christmas morning, Poloncarz said.
“This is still a life-threatening situation,” he said. “This is nothing to joke about.”
County Deputy Commissioner for Disaster Preparedness and Homeland Security Gregory Butcher said the storm would be significant “in the coming days.”
About 500 drivers were trapped in their vehicles in Erie County Friday night into Saturday morning, and “a few hundred” may still be trapped, Poloncarz told the news agency. CNN 🇧🇷 This was despite a county driving ban implemented during the storm.
Lia Belles’ grandmother, 85, and her father were among those arrested. They have been on New York State Route 198 in Buffalo – less than a kilometer from their home – since Friday afternoon (23). Contact with them is limited due to the phone’s battery, and they turn the heat on and off to save fuel.
“There’s nothing I want more than their safety right now,” Belles told CNN on Saturday, adding that her father could come home but would never leave her mother alone.
“I tried to walk to them with a sled, but the conditions alone were just impossible,” she said.
Belles said that on Saturday afternoon they got help unlocking the car, but there was no way for them to get out. “It is very stressful and difficult. They are definitely exhausted, but we are seeing some hope now,” she vented.
In the worst-hit areas, many emergency crews trying to reach stranded people were trapped, Poloncarz said.
“Don’t leave the house,” said Poloncarz in the CNN on Saturday for anyone thinking of traveling to or within the area.
“It’s much safer to be indoors, even if you lose your power with just 45 degrees inside, than it is to go outside and deal with minus 20 cold winds and blinding conditions.”
National Guard troops arrived to “rescue people who are trapped in vehicles” and to give lifts to medical workers so they can relieve colleagues who have been working in hospitals for more than a day, Poloncarz said.
On Saturday, Buffalo Diocese Bishop Michael W. Fisher urged churches to stream Christmas Mass live because of the severe weather.
🇧🇷Although it is Christmas, in these dangerous conditions, no one should put themselves or others at risk,” he said via Twitter.
Even where it wasn’t snowing, temperatures and wind chills were dangerously low across much of the country. Chilly winds after sunrise on Saturday morning dropped below freezing, according to the National Weather Service.
At least 22 people have died since Wednesday (21) in seven states, the result of dangerous and life-threatening conditions this week in a large part of the country:
- Colorado: Police in Colorado Springs have reported two cold-related deaths since Thursday, with one man found near a building’s power transformer possibly seeking warmth, and another in a transient camp in an alleyway.
- Kansas: Three people have died in weather-related traffic accidents, the Kansas Highway Patrol said on Friday.
- Kentucky: Three people died in the state, officials said, including one involved in a vehicle accident in Montgomery County.
- Missouri: One person died after a caravan slid off an icy road and into a frozen creek, Kansas City police said.
- New York: Erie County had three storm-related deaths, county officials said Saturday. two died in separate incidents on Friday night when emergency medical personnel failed to reach their homes in time for medical emergencies, Poloncarz said. Details about the third death, confirmed by a county spokesman on Saturday afternoon, were not available.
- Ohio: Eight people died as a result of weather-related automobile accidents, including four in an accident Saturday morning on Interstate 75 when a semi-trailer crossed the median and collided with an SUV and a pickup truck, officials said.
- Tennessee: The Tennessee Department of Health on Friday confirmed one storm-related fatality.
- Wisconsin: The Wisconsin State Patrol Thursday reported a fatal accident due to winter weather.
National Guard troops helping to rescue prisoners in Buffalo
From 23:45 [horário de Brasília] As of Saturday, 315,782 US homes and businesses had no electricity service, according to PowerOutage.us, leaving many people without adequate heat or hot water as extremely cold temperatures persist.
An electric grid operator in at least 13 states in the eastern half of the country urged customers to conserve energy from early Saturday until 12am Sunday because usage was straining capacity — and warned that sustained blackouts could ensue if the voltage is too high. very large.
The operator, PJM Interconnection, serves approximately 65 million people in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Colombia.
PJM advised people to set thermostats lower than normal and put off using large electrical appliances such as stoves and dishwashers.
In a video on Twitter, a company official said the risk of rotating customer outages is “very real”.
In Tennessee, utilities intermittently stopped power to customers for a few hours on Saturday morning at the request of the Tennesee Valley Authority – the state’s federal electricity supplier – because cold weather was straining capacity.
Nashville Electric Service told customers Saturday morning to expect “rotating and intermittent power outages” in about 10-minute increments every 90 minutes to two hours.
During the ongoing blackouts, the mayor of Nashville asked the NFL’s Tennessee Titans to postpone their scheduled Saturday noon home game against the Houston Texans.
The NFL delayed the start by an hour and said it explored “all possibilities to minimize non-essential energy around the stadium.”
The NFL’s Buffalo Bills defeated the Chicago Bears in Chicago on Saturday but lost to the weather. Due to the city’s airport being closed because of deep snow and high winds, the team was forced to stay in Chicago one more night. They are expected to fly to Rochester, New York on Sunday and travel back to Buffalo from there.
More than 5,000 flights were canceled on Friday, with thousands of delays, and more than 3,300 flights were canceled on Saturday, and more than 800 were already canceled on Christmas Day.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
