US: 23 killed due to chilling winter storm, 2700+ flights cancelled on Christmas eve

US: A bitter winter storm that raced across the nation killed at least 23 people, cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, and had millions of people on edge about possible blackouts on Christmas Eve. Buffalo, New York, was slammed by the storm's full intensity, with hurricane-force winds generating whiteout conditions. The international airport of the city was closed, and emergency response operations were immobilised.

Officials in the U.S. have linked deaths to the storm's exposure, traffic accidents, falling tree limbs, and other consequences. In the Buffalo area, at least three individuals perished, including two who had medical issues in their homes but couldn't be saved because emergency personnel couldn't get to them due to the region's record-breaking blizzard conditions.

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On Christmas Eve, more than 2,700 flights were cancelled

More than 2,700 flights have been cancelled amid the winter storm that has pounded parts of the United States, and scores of airlines have changed their schedules to avoid any potential emergencies. As families were making their way back to their homes for the Christmas holidays, the last-minute cancellation caused considerable pandemonium at the airports.

Buffalo residents scrambled Saturday to get out of their homes to wherever that had heat due to the deep snow, single-digit temperatures, and day-old power outages. Buffalo Niagara International Airport will be closed till Monday morning, according to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and nearly all of Buffalo's fire trucks are stuck in the snow.

No matter how many emergency vehicles we have, they are currently unable to pass due to the road conditions, Hochul stated.

From Maine to Seattle, blinding blizzards, freezing rain, and bitter cold also caused power outages, and a major electrical grid operator warned the 65 million people in the eastern United States that rolling blackouts might be necessary.

Power plants are having trouble working in the bitter cold, according to Pennsylvania-based PJM Interconnection, which has encouraged residents in 13 states to save electricity at least until Christmas morning. Ten million people in Tennessee and portions of six neighbouring states receive electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority, which gave local power firms the go-ahead to carry out scheduled outages but terminated the policy by Saturday afternoon.

An anticipated power outage in Nashville caused the start of the Tennessee Titans' NFL game to be postponed by one hour.

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Around 30,000 electric consumers are without electricity.

More than 273,000 electric customers were still without power in all six New England states as of Saturday. Maine was the hardest hit, and several utilities have warned that it may be days before power is restored. Although the number of power outages in North Carolina on Saturday afternoon was down from a high of over 485,000, utility officials warned that rolling blackouts would last for "the next few days."

James Reynolds of Greensboro was one of those without power, and he reported that his housemate, a 70-year-old diabetic and severely arthritic person, spent the morning wrapped up next to a kerosene heater with the temperature inside "hovering in the 50s."

According to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, two persons in the Cheektowaga neighbourhood of Buffalo died in their homes on Friday because emergency personnel could not get to them in time to treat their medical issues. Adding that the blizzard may have been "the deadliest storm in our community's history," he stated that another person had died in Buffalo.

According to Poloncarz, an ambulance ride to a hospital was taking longer than three hours. As of Saturday, Buffalo had received 28 inches (71 centimetres) of snow, according to forecasters. A record 6 feet (nearly 1.8 metres) of snow fell in certain locations just south of Buffalo last month as a result of a single storm. Brian LaPrade's Buffalo home's furnace was destroyed by the most recent storm, and when he woke up on Saturday, it was minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit inside (10 degrees Celsius).

LaPrade stated, "This morning I had to go out and pull out the vents. The snow was higher than my snow blower as it was. Large snow drifts, abandoned cars, and downed power lines hampered the work of the road ploughs. Four people lost their lives in an accident involving 50 automobiles on the Ohio Turnpike. A driver from Kansas City, Missouri, died on Thursday after swerving into a creek, while three other people died on Wednesday in separate accidents on slick roads in northern Kansas.

According to the Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative, a utility worker in Ohio died on Friday while attempting to restore power. The 22-year-old was claimed to have passed away in Lawrence County close to Pedro in "an electrical contact event."

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