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New York snowstorm strands motorists as icy temperatures grip US
New York snowstorm kills at least five as icy temperatures grip US
(about 3 hours later)
A storm dumped large piles of snow on parts of upstate New York, trapping residents in their homes and stranding motorists on roads, as temperatures in all 50 US states fell to freezing or below.
A brutal storm of ice, snow and record cold temperatures has killed at least five people near Buffalo, New York, as a system of freezing temperatures and heavy precipitation swept toward the US east coast.
Even hardened Buffalo residents were caught off guard on Tuesday as more than 1.2 metres (4ft) of snow fell in parts of the city. Authorities said snow could fall to depths of more than 1.8 metres by Wednesday afternoon in the hardest-hit areas south of Buffalo, with another storm expected on Thursday.
The early snowfall heaped five feet of snow in some areas, trapping cars, buses and plows in heavy drifts. Snow totals could exceed 6ft by the end of Wednesday – with another storm expected on Thursday.
Cold weather enveloped the entire country on Tuesday, leading to record-low temperatures more familiar to January than November. Racing winds and icy roads caused accidents, school closures and municipal operations from the midwest to the south.
Response teams in western New York, accustomed to harsh winters, were surprised by the unusually early and heavy precipitation. Schools closed as New York governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency in several counties and has 150 members of the state national guard and extra teams of snow plows.
In a region accustomed to highway-choking snowstorms, this is being called one of the worst in memory. Snow blown by strong winds forced the closing of a 132-mile stretch of the main highway across New York state.
High winds have exacerbated conditions, and temperatures dropped below freezing across most of the US, with subzero temperatures in Illinois, Wisconsin and Nebraska, where a teenager died from exposure. In the Buffalo area, two people shoveling snow during the storm died of heart attacks, a third was pinned beneath a car while trying to free it, a fourth found inside his car, and a fifth also suffered a heart attack.
The storm was blamed for at least six deaths in New York, New Hampshire and Michigan.
Snow drifts and ice have paralyzed more than 150 vehicles on on more than 100 miles of roadway, including the Niagara University women’s basketball team, trapped on board their bus for more than 24 hours. The team coach told the Associated Press that players were so thirsty they drank melted snow. Traffic accidents blamed on icy conditions have killed more than a dozen people.
“We have tried to get out of our house, and we are lucky to be able to shovel so we can open the door,” said Linda Oakley, of Buffalo. “We’re just thinking that in case of an emergency we can at least get out the door. We can’t go any further.”
Weather experts blame a phenomenon called the lake effect for the exceptionally intense storm; cold winds pick up the warm, moist air over lakes, freezing it as it travels before dumping it suddenly when those winds reach land. Nestled on Lake Erie’s shores and not far from Lake Ontario, Buffalo was struck by a curiosity of the effect – snow buried its southern suburbs but barely dusted its northern outskirts.
The snowstorm forced motorists in 150 vehicles, including a women’s basketball team, to ride out the onslaught in their vehicles. They waited for hours to be freed, with some waiting more than a day. The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, deployed 150 members of the national guard to help clear snow-clogged roads and remove abandoned vehicles.
The huge system dropped as much of 18 inches in Michigan, shut down schools in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and forced roads closed in Indiana, New Hampshire and around the US. Cities in Alaska may be warmer than towns in northern Florida on Wednesday if temperatures rise as expected. Through Friday, Buffalo will have to soldier through two separate lake effect warnings, and possibly as much as two more feet of snow as storm bands sweep in.
By early Wednesday, a Thruway official said most but not all passenger vehicles had been cleared.
Bryce Foreback, 23, of Shicora, Pennsylvania, who became stuck in a long line of cars just south of Buffalo at about 10.30pm on Monday, said by phone 20 hours later: “It seemed like a nightmare. It just didn’t feel like it was going to end. I haven’t slept in like 30 hours and I’m just waiting to get out of here.”
Members of the Niagara University women’s basketball team, stuck in the snow on Tuesday night got so thirsty they drank melted snow, said coach Kendra Faustin, who was travelling with her one-year-old child.
The “lake-effect” snow created a stark divide: in downtown Buffalo and north of the city there was only a dusting , while in the south snow was everywhere.
In New Hampshire and elsewhere, icy roads led to accidents. Snowstorms in Michigan produced gale-force winds and as much as 46cm (18ins) of snow, and cancelled flights at the Grand Rapids airport.
In Atlanta, tourists Morten and Annette Larsen from Copenhagen said they were surprised by the -1C weather, as they took photos of a monument to the 1996 summer Olympics at Centennial Olympic Park. “It’s as cold here as it is in Denmark right now. We didn’t expect that,” Larsen said.
