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BUFFALO — In Buffalo, one of the snowiest cities in the country, residents pride themselves on weathering extreme winter conditions. But the city and region were left reeling from a fierce and sprawling storm that pummeled parts of the country last week and devastated Western New York, where hundreds were stranded in their cars and stuck in homes encased in six-foot drifts on Saturday.
At least three people died in Erie County, two of them because emergency responders could not reach them in time, as whiteout conditions left roads so choked with snow that even snowplows could not clear them.
“This may turn out to be the worst storm in our community’s history, surpassing the famed Blizzard of ’77 for its ferocity,” Mark Poloncarz, the Erie County executive, said on Saturday.
Emergency workers were still rescuing people from cars as darkness fell on Saturday — some of them trapped since Friday. As the snow continued falling, some residents prepared to spend another night at home without power, with no safe way to reach shelter elsewhere.
In one case, a doctor had to talk a woman through her labor on the phone, giving instructions to her sister on how to deliver the baby.
More than 25,000 customers in the Buffalo area remained without electricity as of 4 p.m. Saturday, Mr. Poloncarz said. Utility crews were expected to fix some power substations by Saturday night, but he cautioned that some may not be restored until late Monday. Emergency workers made at least 50 rescues from homes and cars between Friday and Saturday, including a small child, said Chief Brian Britzzalaro of the Erie County Sheriff’s Department.
The struggle was complicated by drivers ignoring travel bans and becoming stuck or stranded, blocking roads cleared for emergency traffic, Mr. Poloncarz said.
The storm’s unusual duration fueled its devastating impact, as it struck highly populated areas, and raged all day on Friday and all day Saturday. Howling winds drove mounds of snow more than six feet high, burying front porches and parked vehicles. In the hardest-hit areas — including Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Lancaster and Williamsville — two-thirds of emergency responders became stuck themselves and were unable to reach people, Mr. Poloncarz said.
County officials urged people to stay put, even without heat or power, and asked the National Guard to assist with rescue operations. Buffalo-Niagara International Airport is closed until Monday, said Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York.
As the cold deepened and urgency grew, emergency workers resorted to using snow plows to transport some residents to shelters, Ms. Hochul said.
“Everyone is like, ‘Oh, you’re from Buffalo, you’re used to this,’” said Tommy Bellonte, 37, who briefly emerged from his Buffalo home Saturday morning to check on a neighbor. “But you can’t get used to this.”
Americans in dozens of states on Saturday faced the frigid aftermath of the powerful, four-day storm that knocked out power to 1.5 million homes and businesses at its peak. The potent weather system, a “bomb cyclone” packing high winds intensified by a collision of air masses, upended travel plans for tens of thousands, forcing many to spend Christmas without heat, electricity or the company of family members.
Temperatures plunged into the single digits in central, southern and eastern states as the massive weather system swept north into Canada and frigid Arctic air settled in behind it. The cold set records for Christmas Eve in some places across the country, including in Baltimore, where the temperature plummeted to 8 degrees, and in Bluefield, W.Va., where it bottomed out at minus 9.
On Saturday, the fourth day of the storm, millions remained under winter storm or blizzard warnings. Half a million homes and businesses were still in the dark up and down the East Coast at midday Saturday, according to the website poweroutage.us; by day’s end, the total had declined to 320,000. Maine was the hardest hit, with 162,000 customers without service.
Some residents of beachfront areas in New York City also faced the prospect of leaving home for Christmas, after Friday’s storm surge caused heavy flooding in the Rockaways, swamping basement apartments, said Donovan Richards Jr., the Queens borough president.
At least 17 deaths were attributed to the storm, including a dozen in traffic accidents across four states. In Castleton, Vt., a 51-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree, local police confirmed. In the Chicago area, a 54-year-old man died of hypothermia, a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner said. In Houston, a homeless person died trying to set up a fire to keep warm, according to the mayor, Sylvester Turner.
As the cold tightened its grip, cities and towns opened warming shelters in fire stations and school gymnasiums, and residents sought shelter, some after spending Friday night in unheated homes, huddled under blankets and clustered around fireplaces in the dark.
After a day without power, Shantel Moncrief and her husband attempted to sleep in their apartment in south Nashville on Friday night layered in sweaters and blankets. Too cold to rest, they moved into their car at 2 a.m., and at 6 a.m., relocated to her mother’s house.
“We were bundled up,” Ms. Moncrief, 24, said. “It just wasn’t enough.”
Nearly 8,000 U.S. flights were disrupted on Saturday because of the storm, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight data. And many with plans to travel by car were thwarted by icy roads, highway closures and travel bans.
At La Guardia Airport in New York, more than 50 flights were canceled Saturday morning, and travelers prepared to spend Christmas Eve at the airport or in nearby hotels.
Misty and Dan Ellis arrived at the airport for check-in at 3 a.m. with their teenage children. Hours later, their flight was canceled, and each member of the family was rebooked on a different flight, said Mr. Ellis.
The family decided to rent a car instead and drive 14 hours to their home in Nashville. The cost would be hefty, Mr. Ellis said, but he did not mind paying it.
“We’ll be home, together,” he said, “for Christmas.”
As darkness fell in Western New York on Saturday and temperatures crept even lower, thousands of utility workers and plow drivers faced another long night of work to restore power and clear roads. With snow forecast to continue, and travel bans still in effect, stores were empty of last-minute shoppers, and streets mostly silent.
For those still out in the perilous conditions, home seemed a world away, however close.
Frank Anderson, 50, was stuck in deep snow in his large white pickup truck on Saturday for the second time since wrapping up his shift as a prison guard.
Still wearing his work jacket with a New York State Corrections and Community Supervision emblem on his left sleeve and with only a spare sweater in the back seat, he found his truck jammed along Hertel Avenue, his tires spinning on ice, as he attempted to make it back to his wife and three children in time for Christmas. He was about “a mile from home” in the suburb of Tonawanda.
“I’m going to miss Christmas with my people,” he said, the truck and heat still running as he sat inside in the middle of the unplowed road packed with feet of snow.
“I am not going to walk home,” he added. “If I have to sleep here I’ll be all right.”
Euan Ward, Eliza Fawcett, Isabella Grullón Paz, Bob Chiarito, Jamie McGee, Ellen Yan, April Rubin, Sharon Dunten and Maria Jimenez Moya contributed reporting.
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Eduardo Medina
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