A higher death toll is feared as relief progresses

The bitter cold that has been hitting the US for several days has brought heavy snow and strong winds, especially in the Great Lakes region. At least fifty people died across the country And wreaking havoc on road and air traffic. This bad weather was described as never coming “Once in a Generation” It should begin to decrease on Tuesday, December 27 in the East and Midwest.

More than 10,000 flights canceled in a few days, chaos at airports and continued chaos: Southwest Airlines, which has been hit harder than any other US company by a severe cold wave in the US, found itself under fire on Tuesday. After canceling 75% of its flights on Monday, the company cut another 63% on Tuesday morning and warned that only a third of its scheduled flights would take off. “in the next few days”. The administration has apologized for the situation it describes“unacceptable”.

The country’s other major airlines also faced difficulties, with Delta and United canceling 1,835 and 1,257 flights between Thursday and Monday, respectively, according to the FlightAware site. However, as temperatures rose, operations resumed on Tuesday: American Airlines, United, Delta and JetBlue had cancellation rates between 0% and 2%.

High numbers are feared in buffalo

Winter Storm Elliott has already killed 28 people in Erie County, which includes Buffalo, New York. As relief progresses and becomes clearer, more numbers are feared. “Unfortunately, the police expect this number [de morts] increased”Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said Twitter.

“We’re recovering from one of the worst storms we’ve ever seen, unfortunately with the highest death toll we’ve ever seen in a storm.”Erie County Official Mark Poloncarz said at a press conference on Tuesday. “We will never forget him”he added.

In Buffalo, a 22-year-old woman died after her car got stuck in snow, her family said. A video sent by the victim and posted by his sister shows him rolling down the window of his vehicle, surrounded by snow during the blizzard.

In Buffalo, a region accustomed to harsh winters, Zila says Santiago and her four children were rescued from their car eleven hours later. The New York Times. Mr Santiago called for emergency services, the National Guard and friends to come and help him, in vain – even the emergency services were hampered by the snow. So he revved the engine to keep his children warm and fed them some sap from the trunk until a snowstorm came to their rescue at dawn.

“We had rescuers who flew to the aid of other rescuers.”Buffalo’s Vice Mayor Crystal Rodriguez-Dabney told CNN on Tuesday. “First it is necessary to help the emergency services so that they can go and help people. »

The driving ban is maintained

A driving ban for the city of Buffalo is in effect Tuesday He tweeted that Marc Polancarz. “Please stay out of Buffalo. You are hindering the solution efforts”He told reporters on Tuesday, warning that conditions remain dangerous.

US Weather Service, NWSThis alerted residents “Dangerous traffic conditions in the county”. The number of deaths confirmed by authorities in nine US states is at least fifty. In Ohio, nine people were killed in bad weather-related road crashes, the Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed to Agence France-Presse.

Rescue teams pulled hundreds of people out of snow-covered cars and homes without power; Others may still be blocked by snow, officials said. Many homes were without power — up to 1.7 million at the center of the storm Saturday, according to the site power cut. us.