As the holiday season gets going, a massive storm known as a “bomb cyclone” strikes the US.
Image Via ABC News
Intense cold near record lows, blizzards, freezing rain, flooding, and a catastrophic winter storm blanketed much of the US on Saturday. The storm was to blame for more than a dozen fatalities. Around 1.4 million homes and businesses were left without power by late afternoon, causing a disruption in holiday travel and utilities.
The storm, known as a “bomb cyclone” or “bombogenesis,” according to forecasters, was brought on by the collision of warm, moist air from the south with cold, dry air from the north.
For many, it was the coldest Christmas Eve in decades as the system moved as far south as Texas. Elliott was the storm that brought downed power lines, several accidents, and widespread travel disruptions. It covered 2,000 miles, extending from the Great Lakes in Canada’s borderlands to the Rio Grande in Mexico. The Rockies to the Appalachians had significantly below-average temperatures.
While the north east had coastal and inland flooding followed by rapid freezing, much of the Pacific north-west was covered with freezing rain.
The NWS stated that “heavy rain falling on a melting snowpack will intensify flooding consequences.” Due to the high onshore gusts, moderate to isolated major coastal flooding is predicted. On the storm’s backside, rapidly dropping temperatures could cause flooded regions to freeze.
“Dangerous cold wind chills across most of the central and eastern US, a possibly life-threatening hazard for passengers that become stranded,” were predicted to result from the arctic temperatures and blustery winds.
The NWS stated: “Ensure outside animals and livestock have enough protection. In some regions, being outdoors might cause frostbite in minutes.
Nearly 400,000 people were still without power in the six New England states, and some companies issued restoration time estimates in the days range. According to Poweroutage.us, 370,000 people in North Carolina were without electricity.
Pennsylvania-based PJM Interconnection issued an emergency appeal for conservation, requesting that people in 13 states reduce their thermostats, put off using large appliances like stoves and dishwashers, and turn off unnecessary lights. Commercial and industrial energy consumers were urged to reduce their usage.
Image Via ABC News
People were also advised by PJM to be ready for rolling blackouts. Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. are all or portions of the states covered by PJM.
It warned that travelling under these circumstances would be highly risky and occasionally impossible.
Highways were closed as collisions increased. A pileup involving 50 automobiles on the Ohio Turnpike resulted in four fatalities. On Thursday, a driver in Kansas City, Missouri, died after crashing into a creek. On Kansas highways, three people died. A number of collisions occurred in Michigan, including one involving nine semi-trailers.
WestJet cancelled every flight at Toronto’s Pearson airport in Canada. As they awaited a ruling from the highest court on limits from the epidemic era that prevent them from requesting asylum, migrants camped out in Mexico near the US border amid exceptionally chilly conditions.
In South Dakota, the governor, Kristi Noem, authorised an expansion of a state national guard mission to provide firewood and shovel snow blown into drifts as high as 12 feet for the Oglala Sioux and Rosebud Sioux tribes.
Activists raced to rescue homeless individuals out of the cold across the storm’s width. A Detroit shelter with a capacity for 100 people housed close to 170 adults and kids.
Although there were a lot of extra persons, Faith Fowler, executive director of Cass Community Social Services, emphasised that it was not an option to turn anyone away.
Nearly 800 people stayed at five shelters in Portland, Oregon, as outreach teams provided survival items. Volunteers were needed for shelters. According to officials, workers were prevented from working because of the flu or slippery roads. Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom
The wind reached 150 mph on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the highest mountain in the northeast.
A high tide and rain in Boston’s downtown caused several of the streets to flood. Amtrak suspended rail service in Vermont, and state agencies that weren’t absolutely necessary closed early.
The largest utility in Vermont, Green Mountain Power, told reporters that “I’m hearing from personnel who are seeing grown trees pulled off by the roots.”
The governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, issued an emergency proclamation and announced intentions to send the national guard to the Buffalo area. Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom
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As the NWS in Buffalo predicted “life-threatening blizzard conditions,” with 14 inches of snowfall in 24 hours and another 2 to 4 feet of snow possible, Jefferson county declared an emergency and issued a travel ban.
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According to Hochul, nearly every fire truck in Buffalo is stranded, some routes will be closed through Christmas Day, and the Buffalo Niagara International Airport will be closed through Monday.
No matter how many emergency vehicles we have, they are currently unable to pass due to the road conditions, Hochul stated. Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom Strom
First responders were unable to get to two people’s houses on Friday during medical emergencies, which led to their deaths.
At least 10 police vehicles were reportedly stranded, according to Tim Carney of the Erie county sheriff’s office, who described the situation as “like a category 3 hurricane with a bunch of snow mixed in.”
On Saturday, winds were predicted to lessen, but the NWS said that “blizzard conditions continue within lake snow bands.” John Cooper, the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, declared that he had urged the Tennessee Titans to postpone their NFL game on Christmas Eve “in solidarity with our neighbours.” The Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest US public utility, requested local power businesses to cut back on usage despite ending rolling blackouts on Friday.
At least 18 people have died as a result of the icy storm that has gripped much of the United States. The storm has also trapped some inhabitants inside their houses due to high snowdrifts and cut electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.
The storm’s size has been almost unheard of, spanning from the Rio Grande near the Mexican border to the Great Lakes near Canada. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures fell sharply below average from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, and almost 60% of the US population was under some type of winter weather alert or warning. According to flight tracking website Flight., more than 2,360 domestic and foreign flights were cancelled on Saturday
Forecasters reported that a bomb cyclone, which occurs when atmospheric pressure rapidly decreases during a powerful storm, had formed close to the Great Lakes, causing blizzard-like conditions, including severe winds and snowfall. According to officials, the storm unleashed its full fury on Buffalo, with hurricane-force winds and snow creating whiteout conditions, halting emergency response attempts and closing the airport till Monday. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul claimed practically every fire engine in the city was stuck. Residents were rushing to leave their houses on Saturday in order to find somewhere with heat due to the freezing conditions and day-old power outages. But for those like Jeremy Manahan, who charged his phone in his parked car after nearly 29 hours without electricity, that wasn’t an option because city streets were covered with a thick blanket of white.
There is only one warming shelter, but I couldn’t reach it because of the distance. I definitely can’t drive because I’m stuck,” Manahan remarked. “And you can’t spend more than ten minutes outside without getting frostbite.”
Buffalo’s county executive, Mark Poloncarz, claimed the blizzard may be “the worst storm in our community’s history” and that it was taking ambulances more than three hours to travel just one hospital mile. Emergency personnel were unable to reach three persons in time to address their medical issues on Friday, resulting in their deaths in their suburban Cheektowaga, New York homes, one of whom passed away in Buffalo.
Numerous neighbourhoods, particularly in Buffalo, are still impassable. Ditjak Ilunga, a resident of Gaithersburg, Maryland, and his daughters were travelling to Hamilton, Ontario, to spend Christmas with relatives on Friday when their SUV became stuck in Buffalo. They struggled for hours with the engine running in the wind- and snow-battered car without being able to call for assistance.
By 4 a.m. on Saturday, their fuel was almost gone, and Ilunga was in a grave situation. They decided to brave the storm to get to a neighbouring shelter. He followed in his footsteps as they trudged through drifts with 6-year-old Destiny on his back and their Pomeranian puppy in Cindy’s 16-year-old hands. He remembered thinking, “If I stay in this car, I’m going to die here with my kids,” but he felt they had to try. When the family entered the refuge via the doors, he sobbed. “It’s something I’ll always remember,”
From Maine to Seattle, communities lost power as a result of the storm, and 65 million people in the eastern US were warned that rolling blackouts would occur by a major electricity system operator. On Saturday, more than 273,000 people were still without power in the six New England states, with Maine being the worst-affected. Some utilities warned that it might take days to restore power. On Saturday afternoon, 169,000 people lacked electricity in North Carolina, down from over 485,000. Rolling blackouts, according to utility officials, will last for the upcoming days.
As they waited for the US Supreme Court’s ruling on limits from the epidemic era that prevented them from requesting asylum, migrants camping near the US border in Mexico were experiencing extremely low weather.
After becoming trapped while attempting to travel from Alabama to their Ohio home for Christmas, Terry Henderson and her husband Rick endured a 34-hour traffic jam along Interstate 71 in Kentucky in a vehicle equipped with a diesel heater, a toilet, and a refrigerator.
Terry Henderson said once they started moving again on Saturday, “We should have remained.” Late Saturday night, Poloncarz of Erie County tweeted that the Buffalo Airport had 34.6 inches (or 88 centimetres) of snow accumulation and that certain locations had drifts that were well over 6 feet (1.8 metres) high. He added that although lake effect snow was predicted to continue, blizzard conditions were anticipated to abate early on Sunday.
A total of 60 to 70 individuals, including stranded visitors and residents without electricity or heat, spent Saturday night inside the church, according to Vivian Robinson of Spirit of Truth Urban Ministry in Buffalo.Many others arrived in tears, their skin scorched by the single-digit cold, with ice and snow stuck to their clothing. They started getting ready to spend Christmas together on Saturday night.
As Robinson put it, “It’s emotional just to see the hurt that they felt they wouldn’t make it, and to realise that we had opened up the church, and it brought them a sense of relief.” “Those present are clearly having a great time. Everyone will experience Christmas differently.
48 dead as severe winter storm batters most of the United States
Authorities in western New York said Monday that a pre-Christmas blizzard that paralysed much of the country and the Buffalo area had killed 27, making it the deadliest weather-related disaster in the region’s history. The deceased have been discovered in their residences, cars, and snowbanks. Some people lost their lives sledding. Rescue and recovery efforts are still going on Monday, as the hurricane that devastated much of the nation is now to responsible for at least 48 fatalities nationwide.
As the storm tore through western New York on Friday and Saturday, it left drivers stranded, cut out power, and prevented rescue workers from getting to people trapped in icy homes and stopped cars. Thousands of homes have been in the dark due to a lack of power, some of which were decorated with unlit holiday displays and large snowdrifts that Monday almost buried cars.
Because the enormous storm knocked out electricity to tens of thousands of homes and businesses and locked some inhabitants inside their homes, more deaths are predicted to result from it. From the Great Lakes in Canada to the Rio Grande near the Mexican border, there was extreme weather. Temperatures plunged well below average from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, and around 60% of Americans were subject to some type of winter weather advisory or warning.
The bitter arctic air that is “enveloping much of the eastern half of the United States,” according to the National Weather Service, will eventually dissipate. Hurricane-force winds and snowfall in Buffalo immobilised emergency response attempts and created whiteout conditions. Nearly every fire engine in the city, according to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, was left stranded on Saturday. On Sunday, she pleaded with residents to observe the area’s continued traffic ban. At 7 a.m. on Sunday, the National Weather Service reported that there were 43 inches (1.1 metres) of snow at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. According to officials, the airport will be closed until Tuesday morning.
Forecasters predicted an additional 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 cm) of snow was possible in some regions through early Monday morning with wind gusts of 40 mph were present. Snow was swirling down untreated and impassable streets (64 kph). There were two “isolated” incidences of looting during the storm, according to police reports from Sunday night.
As a result of emergency personnel not being able to reach them in time to treat their medical issues, two people died Friday in their suburban Cheektowaga, New York, homes. Including six fatalities in Buffalo, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz reported an additional 10 deaths there during the storm and issued a caution that there may be more. According to Poloncarz, “some were found in cars, while some were located on the street in snowbanks.” “We are aware that some passengers have spent more than two days stranded in their vehicles.” Buffalo residents were rushing to get somewhere with heat in the midst of Hochul’s description of the city’s longest persistent blizzard conditions because of the freezing weather and power disruptions.
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