Thousands remain without power in the Buffalo region, where there is as much as 49 inches of snow on the ground.
AMN / WEB DESK
THE death toll due massive winter storm in US has gone up to 47. At least 25 people have died in Erie County, New York, as a result of blizzards which blasted much of the US in recent days, county officials said Monday, bringing the nationwide death toll to 47.
New York authorities said Monday as the region dug out from one of the worst weather-related disasters in its history.
The updated number of deaths in Erie County, which includes the city of Buffalo, comes as parts of western New York remain buried by up to 43 inches of snow, leaving vehicles stuck and power out for thousands over the Christmas holiday, just one month after the region was slammed with a historic snowstorm.
“We can see, sort of, the light at the end of the tunnel,” Mark C. Poloncarz, the Erie County executive, said at a news conference on Monday morning. “But this is not the end yet. We are not there.”
Mr. Poloncarz said that officials in Erie County, which includes Buffalo, had identified 12 more deaths since Sunday that they had linked to the storm.
He said the deaths included people found trapped in their cars and those who had “cardiac-related events” while removing snow from outside homes and businesses.
According to VOA the dead have been found in their cars, homes and in snowbanks. Some died while shoveling snow. The storm that walloped much of the country is now blamed for at least 48 deaths nationwide, with rescue and recovery efforts continuing Monday.
The blizzard roared through the western New York Friday and Saturday, stranding motorists, knocking out power and preventing emergency crews from reaching residents in frigid homes and stuck cars.
The snow is expected to end tomorrow morning, with between four and eight more inches expected in parts of the region, mostly concentrated north of the city during the day, before moving south overnight, said Jon Hitchcock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Buffalo.
The snow is forecast to be “very fluffy,” he added, and, with very little wind in the forecast, the Buffalo region should not expect the same level of blizzard-like conditions it experienced over the weekend.