WASHINGTON : As many as 34 people have lost their lives in weather-related incidents across the United States, as the monster storm gripped most of the nation coupled with snow, ice and howling winds.
‘Bomb’- the cyclone brought Christmas Day danger and misery to millions of Americans Sunday as intense snow and frigid cold gripped parts of the eastern United States.
It is (like) going to a warzone, and the vehicles along the sides of the roads are shocking,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a native of Buffalo, where eight-foot (2.4-meter) snow drifts and power outages have made for life-threatening conditions.
Officials described historically dangerous conditions in the snow-prone Buffalo region, with hours-long whiteouts and bodies discovered in vehicles and under snow banks as emergency workers struggled to search for those in need of rescue.
More than 200,000 people across several eastern states woke up without power on Christmas morning and many more had their holiday travel plans upended, although the five-day-long storm featuring blizzard conditions and ferocious winds showed signs of easing.
In some parts of the US, the mercury plunged to -45°C two days before Christmas, leaving citizens packed in their homes. Places like Des Moines, Iowa have a temperature like -37°F (-38°C) which can cause frostbite in less than five minutes.