Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/AP) - A devastating blizzard that gripped the Buffalo region since Friday, part of a much larger storm system that plagued the northeastern US, is now responsible for a growing death toll as New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced 27 deaths associated with the storm as of her Monday afternoon.
Buffalo Police confirm 14 deaths related to the storm as of Monday morning and say they have recovered four bodies and were working to retrieve the additional deceased. All the deaths are people found outside cars, police say, and they have a number of additional reports of unconfirmed deaths.
As of Monday morning, as many as 18 total are reported dead as a result of the storm, many freezing inside cars and other succumbing to injuries and illness resulting from the storm.
Through the weekend, calls from desperate stranded motorists were pouring in to WBEN during continuous LIVE coverage on air.
James, an elderly veteran with diabetes, checked in frequently, detailing his continued struggles in his vehicle on Fillmore Avenue, stranded with no help in sight. He called late in the day Sunday with the good news that he was finally rescued. "I am OK," exclaimed James as he updated Tom Bauerle and David Bellavia. "I was in my for car two days and I was froze when they took me out of there."
Cars were stranded throughout the region during the height of the storm in massive drifts and visibility prevented rescue crews from getting to them until Sunday, when conditions and visibility improved.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown took to the air of WBEN Christmas Day to plead with residents to abide by the driving ban and remain off the streets to allow search and rescue and snow removal crews to carry out their missions. "I'm not asking, I'm not pleading," Mayor Brown emphasized, "I'm telling you, get off the roads, right now, in the city of Buffalo...people are dying in cars."
As the storm unfolded beginning Friday, it unleashed its full fury on Buffalo, with hurricane-force winds and snow causing whiteout conditions, paralyzing emergency response efforts. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said almost every fire truck in the city was stranded Saturday and implored people Sunday to respect an ongoing driving ban in the region. Officials said the airport would be shut through Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 43 inches at 7 a.m. Sunday.
Daylight revealed cars nearly covered by 6-foot snowdrifts and thousands of houses, some adorned in unlit holiday displays, dark from a lack of power. With snow swirling down untouched and impassable streets, forecasters warned that an additional 1 to 2 feet of snow was possible in some areas through early Monday morning amid wind gusts of 40 mph. Police said Sunday evening that there were two "isolated" instances of looting during the storm.
Freezing conditions and day-old power outages had Buffalonians scrambling to get to anywhere that had heat amid what Hochul called the longest sustained blizzard conditions ever in the city. But with streets under a thick blanket of white, that wasn't an option for people like Jeremy Manahan, who charged his phone in his parked car after almost 29 hours without electricity.
"There's one warming shelter, but that would be too far for me to get to. I can't drive, obviously, because I'm stuck," Manahan said. "And you can't be outside for more than 10 minutes without getting frostbit."
Ditjak Ilunga of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was on his way to visit relatives in Hamilton, Ontario, for Christmas with his daughters Friday when their SUV was trapped in Buffalo. Unable to get help, they spent hours with the engine running, buffeted by wind and nearly buried in snow.
By 4 a.m. Saturday, their fuel nearly gone, Ilunga made a desperate choice to risk the howling storm to reach a nearby shelter. He carried 6-year-old Destiny on his back while 16-year-old Cindy clutched their Pomeranian puppy, following his footprints through drifts.
In Buffalo, William Kless was up at 3 a.m. Sunday. He called his three children at their mother's house to wish them Merry Christmas and then headed off on his snowmobile for a second day spent shuttling people from stuck cars and frigid homes to a church operating as a warming shelter.
Through heavy, wind-driven snow, he brought about 15 people to the church in Buffalo on Saturday, he said, including a family of five transported one-by-one. He also got a man in need of dialysis, who had spent 17 hours stranded in his car, back home, where he could receive treatment.
"I just felt like I had to," Kless said.
"If I stay in this car I'm going to die here with my kids," Ilunga recalled thinking. He cried when the family walked through the shelter doors. "It's something I will never forget in my life."
