A total of 28 deaths were reported due to a blizzard that paralyzed western part of New York over the Christmas weekend. The new fatalities included cases of people found in snow banks, homes and in cars.
Over tens of thousands of residents are without power. As of Monday morning, around 1.27 metres of snow was measured at the airport.
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Nearly 3,410 domestic and international flights were cancelled. The tracking site FlightAware said that Southwest Airlines had 2,497 cancellations — about 60% of its scheduled flights and about 10 times as many as any other major US carrier. According to the site, airports all across the US including Denver, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle, Baltimore and Chicago are suffering from cancellations and delays.
According to the National Weather Service, the airport will remain shut through Wednesday morning.
The crews teams involved in relief operations are struggling to dig out the snow-bound region around Buffalo. The snow continued to fall on top of more than 1.2 meters and dumped on Buffalo since Friday.
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Buffalo is New York’s second largest city. It is located on the edge of Lake Erie near the Canadian border. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the situation an “epic, once-in-a-lifetime” weather disaster. She also called it a ‘historic’ snowfall.
The local authorities have put a ban on personal road travel.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has approved federal support to conduct emergency relief operations in the area. Taking to twitter, the US President said, “My heart is with those who lost loved ones this holiday weekend. You are in my and Jill’s prayers.”
More than hundreds of National Guard troops were deployed to assist the local emergency personnel and the state police.