More than 50 people have died due to heavy snowfall in the United States, while the authorities have expressed fear of increasing the number of deaths.
Officials told the French news agency AFP that “most people died in road accidents due to the blizzard.”
Officials confirmed another death in western New York’s Erie County, the epicenter of the crisis.
As the temperature dropped, people started leaving their homes, some frozen by snow, and stuck on various highways, unable to be rescued.
Byron Brown, the mayor of Buffalo, New York’s second-largest city, said in a tweet that “Police fear the death toll from the storm may rise.”
“Residents are still facing an ‘extremely dangerous life-threatening situation’,” he told reporters, instructing people to stay indoors.
The blizzard of ‘year’ 2022 will be talked about not only today but for generations. This storm has surpassed the historic blizzard of 1977 in intensity.
Officials said that rescue workers recovered bodies from under vehicles and snowdrifts in the snow-hit Buffalo area.
Buffalo, the largest city in the lakeside county, has been paralyzed by heavy snow and power outages for five days, with more snow forecast for Tuesday.
New York State Governor Cathy Hoechl has likened the devastation in the area after the storm to a ‘war zone’.
The governor of New York told reporters that this is “definitely the biggest blizzard of this century.”
The storm closed major US highways and canceled thousands of flights just days before Christmas.
Millions of Americans faced a difficult situation on Christmas Day due to heavy snowfall and severe cold.
