Winter storms cause blackouts, hit Americans with snow and freezing temperatures ahead of Christmas

extreme cold winter storm has swept across the country, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power and millions of people fearing possible power outages over the Christmas holiday weekend.

The storm raged through Buffalo, New York, with hurricane-force winds causing whiteout conditions. Emergency response efforts were paralyzed and the city’s international airport was closed.

CBS News has confirmed at least 20 weather-related deaths from the storm across the country. At least three of his people have died in the Buffalo area, two of whom received emergency medical care at home, unable to be saved after paramedics failed to reach their homes during a historic blizzard.

As millions of Americans traveled before Christmas, more than 3,400 flights inside and outside the United States were canceled on Saturday, according to tracking sites, and another 1,300 as of 7 a.m. Sunday. flight awareAirlines are catching up with crew shortages and de-icing, delaying a return to normal, reports CBS News correspondent Naomi Ruchim. In Seattle, an ice storm closed multiple runways.

At least 345,000 customers nationwide were without power as of Saturday night, according to outage tracking site PowerOutage.us. Of those, over 170,000 were in the New England area.

Deep snow, single-digit temperatures and a day-long power outage forced Buffalo residents to flee their homes on Saturday to a hot spot. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the Buffalo Niagara International Airport was closed until Monday morning, with nearly every fire truck in the city stuck in the snow.

“No amount of emergency vehicles can survive the situation we are talking about,” Ho-chul said.

Buffalo already had 28 inches of snow on Saturday, forecasters said. exactly one month agoAs a result, three people died. Expect more overnight.

Erie County Administrator Mark Polonkers said the blizzard could be “the worst storm in the history of our community.” The road was plowed, but large snowdrifts, abandoned cars, and downed power lines slowed progress.

Dizzying blizzards, freezing rains and frigid cold weather have caused power outages in areas from Maine to Seattle, forcing major power grid operators to shut down the 65 million people they serve in the eastern United States. We warned that rolling blackouts might be required.

Pennsylvania-based PJM Interconnection said frigid weather is making power plants difficult to operate, and is asking residents in 13 states to save electricity until at least Christmas morning. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which supplies power to some of the 10 million He’s in the state and six surrounding He’s neighborhoods, directed local power companies to implement planned power outages Saturday. The measures were finished by the afternoon of . A planned power outage delayed the start of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans game in Nashville by an hour.

The PJM Interconnection, which covers all or parts of 13 states and Washington, DC, also warned that rolling blackouts may be required.

In North Carolina, 169,000 customers were without power Saturday afternoon, down from a peak of more than 485,000, but utility officials said rolling blackouts will continue “for the next few days.” That’s it.

Those without power included James Reynolds of Greensboro, a 70-year-old housemate with diabetes and severe arthritis, who was bundled up by a kerosene heater in the morning and whose room temperature was “50 degrees”. It was a stand.

In Jackson, Mississippi, officials said on Saturday City water system – which partially collapsed Late August – Saturday afternoon experiencing “fluctuating” pressure in frigid temperatures.

Officials warn some residents of the Mississippi state capital may experience temporary drops in water pressure. Leading up to the “Arctic blast” that brought dangerously cold air to Jackson, Mayor Chokwe Antal Lumumba warned that the city’s water distribution system remains “a major vulnerability.”

Ticket prices at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Saturday plummeted faster than the temperature, with some seats available at third-party sites for $10 to watch the Bears. undertake Buffalo Bills.Temperatures at kick-off were -9°C, -12°C wind chillIt was Buffalo’s coldest road game since at least 1967.

Temperatures in Montana have been below minus 40 degrees Celsius for most of the week as ranchers try to keep their cattle safe.

Four people were killed Friday in a large pile involving about 50 vehicles on a turnpike in Ohio. A Kansas City, Missouri, driver died Thursday after skidding into a creek, and three others died Wednesday in another crash on icy roads in northern Kansas.

An Ohio utility worker also died Friday trying to restore power, the company said.The Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative said a 22-year-old man died in an “electrical contact accident” near Pedro, Lawrence County. said.

A Vermont woman died Friday in a hospital after a broken tree fell in strong winds.Police in Colorado Springs said they found the body of a person believed to be homeless as freezing temperatures and snow poured into the area. A 57-year-old woman died Friday after falling from river ice in Madison, Wisconsin, the Rock County Sheriff’s Office said.

In Lansing, Michigan, an 82-year-old woman died Friday morning after being found curled up in the snow outside a supported living community, Bass Township Police reported. A snowplow driver spotted the woman when the temperature dropped to around 10 degrees.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said one person died in a weather-related traffic accident in western Kentucky, killing a homeless person in Louisville.

On Interstate 71 in Kentucky, Terry Henderson and her husband Rick were stuck in a massive traffic jam for 34 hours after multiple accidents. The truck driver survived the wait on a rig with a diesel heater, toilet and refrigerator, but regrets trying to drive from Alabama to her home near Akron, Ohio, on Christmas. increase.

“We wish we had stayed,” said Terry Henderson after they moved in again on Saturday.

The storm was nearly unprecedented in its extent, from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande River along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some kind of winter weather advisory or warning, with temperatures well below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachian Mountains, the National Weather Service said.

In Mexico, migrants camped in unusually cold weather near the US border as they awaited a U.S. Supreme Court decision on pandemic-era restrictions that would prevent many from seeking asylum. was sleeping alive On the streets of El Paso, Texas, the border city, freezing temperatures await shelters to open. Most wore winter clothing donated by sympathetic locals and volunteers.

The forecaster bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure dropped rapidly in a strong storm — occurred near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions such as high winds and snow.

Western New York State often sees dramatic lake-effect snow caused by cold air picking up moisture from warm water and bringing it down to land. But even residents of the area found the situation dire on Christmas Eve.

Latricia Stroud said she and her two daughters, ages 1 and 12, have been stranded in their Buffalo home without heat or electricity since the snow was too deep to get out on Friday afternoon. said.

“You have to cross a snowman to get out,” Stroud told The Associated Press. “There’s a warming center. You need a car to get there.”