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Tag: Storms

  • Evacuation warnings amid flooding after California storm

    Evacuation warnings amid flooding after California storm

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Residents of a Northern California community were ordered to evacuate ahead of imminent flooding, and evacuation warnings were in place elsewhere in rural parts of the region on New Year’s Day after a powerful storm brought drenching rain or heavy snowfall to much of the state, breaching levees, snarling traffic and closing major highways.

    Even after the storm moved through, major flooding occurred in agricultural areas about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Sacramento, where rivers swelled beyond their banks and inundated dozens of cars along State Route 99.

    Emergency crews rescued motorists on New Year’s Eve into Sunday morning and the highway remained closed. Crews on Sunday found one person dead inside a submerged vehicle near Route 99, Dan Quiggle, deputy fire chief for operations for Cosumnes Community Service District Fire Department, told The Sacramento Bee.

    Sacramento County authorities issued an evacuation order late Sunday for residents of the low-lying community of Point Pleasant near Interstate 5, citing imminent and dangerous flooding. Residents of the nearby communities of Glanville Tract and Franklin Pond were told to prepare to leave before more roadways are cut off by rising water and evacuation becomes impossible.

    “It is expected that the flooding from the Cosumnes River and the Mokelumne River is moving southwest toward I-5 and could reach these areas in the middle of the night,” the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services said earlier on Twitter Sunday afternoon. “Livestock in the affected areas should be moved to higher ground.”

    To the north in the state’s capital, crews cleared downed trees from roads and sidewalks as at least 17,000 customers were still without power Sunday, down from more than 150,000 a day earlier, according to a Sacramento Municipal Utility District online map.

    Near Lake Tahoe, dozens of drivers were rescued on New Year’s Eve along Interstate 80 after cars spun out in the snow during the blizzard, the California Department of Transportation said. The key route to the mountains from the San Francisco Bay Area reopened early Sunday to passenger vehicles with chains.

    “The roads are extremely slick so let’s all work together and slow down so we can keep I-80 open,” the California Highway Patrol said on Twitter. Several other highways, including State Route 50, also reopened.

    More than 4 feet (1.2 meters) of snow had accumulated in the high Sierra Nevada, and the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area said heavy, wet snow would cause major delays in chairlift openings. On Saturday, the resort reported numerous lift closings, citing high winds, low visibility and ice.

    A so-called atmospheric river storm pulled in a long and wide plume of moisture from the Pacific Ocean. Flooding and rock slides closed portions of roads across the state.

    Rainfall in downtown San Francisco hit 5.46 inches (13.87 cm) on New Year’s Eve, making it the second-wettest day on record, behind a November 1994 deluge, the National Weather Service said. Videos on Twitter showed mud-colored water streaming along San Francisco streets, and a staircase in Oakland turned into a veritable waterfall by heavy rains.

    In Southern California, several people were rescued after floodwaters inundated cars in San Bernardino and Orange counties. No major injuries were reported.

    With the region drying out on New Year’s Day and no rainfall expected during Monday’s Rose Parade in Pasadena, spectators began staking out their spots for the annual floral spectacle.

    The rain was welcomed in drought-parched California. The past three years have been the state’s driest on record — but much more precipitation is needed to make a significant difference.

    It was the first of several storms expected to roll across the state in the span of a week. Saturday’s system was warmer and wetter, while storms this week will be colder, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

    The Sacramento region could receive a total of 4 to 5 inches (10 to 13 centimeters) of rain over the week, Chandler-Cooley said.

    Another round of heavy showers was also forecast for Southern California on Tuesday or Wednesday, the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles-area office said.

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  • Floods in Philippines leave 51 dead, over a dozen missing

    Floods in Philippines leave 51 dead, over a dozen missing

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    MANILA, Philippines — The death toll in the massive floods that devastated parts of the Philippines over the Christmas weekend has climbed to 51, with 19 others missing, the national disaster response agency said Monday, as affected residents struggle to get back on their feet.

    Photos on social media showed residents in Misamis Occidental province in Northern Mindanao sweeping away thick mud from the floors of their homes. In the seaside village of Cabol-anonan, coconut trees were uprooted and huts made of light material were nearly flattened.

    The Northern Mindanao region in the south bore the brunt of the disaster, reporting 25 deaths, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Most of the deaths were from drowning and landslides, and among the missing were fishermen whose boats capsized.

    Floods have subsided in most of the areas hit by bad weather that disrupted Christmas celebrations in the eastern, central and southern Philippines. But over 8,600 of the nearly 600,000 affected people remain in emergency shelters.

    Over 4,500 houses were damaged by the floods, along with roads and bridges, and some areas still have disrupted power and water supply, the disaster management agency said. The government sent food and other essentials to flood-hit residents, deployed heavy equipment for clearing operations, and provided iron sheets and shelter repair kits, officials said. Teams from the capital Manila were sent to assist communities with limited clean water in setting up water filtration systems.

    At least 22 cities and municipalities have declared a state of calamity, the disaster management council said. The move will allow the release of emergency funds and hasten rehabilitation efforts.

    A shear line — the point where warm and cold air meet — triggered heavy rains in parts of the country last week, causing the floods, the state weather bureau said.

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  • California dries out, digs out after storm dumps rain, snow

    California dries out, digs out after storm dumps rain, snow

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    LOS ANGELES — California was drying out and digging out on New Year’s Day after a powerful storm brought drenching rain or heavy snowfall to much of the state, snarling traffic and closing major highways.

    Dozens of drivers were rescued on New Year’s Eve along Interstate 80 near Lake Tahoe after cars spun out in the snow, the California Department of Transportation said. The key route to the mountains from the San Francisco Bay Area reopened early Sunday to passenger vehicles with chains.

    “The roads are extremely slick so let’s all work together and slow down so we can keep I-80 open,” the California Highway Patrol said on Twitter. Several other highways, including State Route 50, also reopened.

    More than 4 feet (1.2 meters) of snow had accumulated in the high Sierra Nevada, and the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area said heavy, wet snow would cause major delays in chairlift openings. On Saturday, the resort reported numerous lift closings, citing high winds, low visibility and ice.

    In the state’s capital, at least 40,000 customers were still without power early Sunday, down from more than 150,000 a day earlier, according to a Sacramento Municipal Utility District online map.

    A so-called atmospheric river storm pulled in a long and wide plume of moisture from the Pacific Ocean. Flooding and rock slides closed portions of roads across the state.

    Rainfall in downtown San Francisco hit 5.46 inches (13.87 cm) on New Year’s Eve, making it the second-wettest day on record, behind a November 1994 deluge, the National Weather Service said. Videos on Twitter showed mud-colored water streaming along San Francisco streets, and a staircase in Oakland turned into a veritable waterfall by heavy rains.

    In Southern California, several people were rescued after floodwaters inundated cars in San Bernardino and Orange counties. No major injuries were reported.

    With the region drying out on New Year’s Day and no rainfall expected during Monday’s Rose Parade in Pasadena, spectators began staking out their spots for the annual floral spectacle.

    The rain was welcomed in drought-parched California. The past three years have been the state’s driest on record — but much more precipitation is needed to make a significant difference.

    It was the first of several storms expected to roll across the state in the span of a week. Saturday’s system was warmer and wetter, while storms this week will be colder, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

    The Sacramento region could receive a total of 4 to 5 inches (10 to 13 centimeters) of rain over the week, Chandler-Cooley said.

    Another round of heavy showers was also forecast for Southern California on Tuesday or Wednesday, the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles-area office said.

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  • ‘Atmospheric river’ dumps heavy rain, snow across California

    ‘Atmospheric river’ dumps heavy rain, snow across California

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A powerful storm Saturday ushered in the new year in California, with much of the state witnessing drenching rain or heavy snowfall that was snarling traffic and closing highways.

    In the high Sierra Nevada, as much as 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow could accumulate Saturday into early Sunday. The National Weather Service in Sacramento warned about hazardous driving conditions and posted photos on Twitter showing traffic on snow-covered mountain passes, where vehicles were required to have chains or four-wheel drive.

    The so-called atmospheric river storm was pulling in a long and wide plume of moisture from the Pacific Ocean, and flooding and rock slides triggered by the storm closed portions of roads across northern California.

    Weather service meteorologist Courtney Carpenter said the storm could drop over an inch of rain Saturday in the Sacramento area before moving south. One ski resort south of Lake Tahoe closed chair lifts because of flooding and operational problems, and posted a photo on Twitter showing one lift tower and its empty chairs surrounded by water.

    “We’re seeing a lot of flooding,” Carpenter said.

    The Stockton Police Department posted photos of a flooded railroad underpass and a car that appeared stalled in more than a foot (30 centimeters) of water.

    The rain was welcomed in drought-parched California, but much more precipitation is needed to make a significant difference. The past three years have been California’s driest on record.

    A winter storm warning was in effect into Sunday for the upper elevations of the Sierra from south of Yosemite National Park to north of Lake Tahoe, where as much as 5 feet (1.5 meters) of snow is possible atop the mountains, the National Weather Service said in Reno, Nevada.

    A flood watch was in effect across much of Northern California through New Year’s Eve. Officials warned that rivers and streams could overflow and urged residents to get sandbags ready.

    Some rainfall totals in the San Francisco Bay Area topped 4 inches (10 centimeters).

    The state transportation agency reported numerous road closures, including Highway 70 east of Chico, which was partially closed by a slide, and the northbound side of Highway 49, east of Sacramento, which was closed because of flooding. In El Dorado County, east of Sacramento, a stretch of Highway 50 was closed because of flooding.

    Humboldt County, where a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck on Dec. 20, also saw roadways begin to flood, according to the National Weather Service’s Eureka office. A bridge that was temporarily closed last week due to earthquake damage may be closed again if the Eel River, which it crosses, gets too high, officials said.

    It was the first of several storms expected to roll across California over the next week. The current system is expected to be warmer and wetter, while next week’s storms will be colder, lowering snow levels in the mountains, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

    The Sacramento region could receive a total of 4 to 5 inches (10 to 13 centimeters) of rain over the span of the week, Chandler-Cooley said.

    “Strong winds could cause tree damage and lead to power outages and high waves on Lake Tahoe may capsize small vessels,” the weather service in Reno said.

    Avalanche warnings were issued in the backcountry around Lake Tahoe and Mammoth Lakes south of Yosemite.

    On the Sierra’s eastern front, flood watches and warnings continue into the weekend north and south of Reno, Nevada, where minor to moderate flooding was forecast along some rivers and streams into the weekend.

    In Southern California, moderate-to-heavy rain was falling Saturday. The region will begin drying out on New Year’s Day and the Jan. 2 Rose Parade in Pasadena should avoid rainfall.

    Another round of heavy showers were forecast for Tuesday or Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Oxnard said.

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  • Power failures amplify calls for utility to rethink gas

    Power failures amplify calls for utility to rethink gas

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    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal utility’s decision to resort to rolling blackouts after coal and natural gas units went offline during dangerously cold conditions has intensified questions about the Tennessee Valley Authority’s recent decision to double down on fossil fuels.

    TVA experienced its highest ever winter peak-power demand on Dec. 23 as an arctic blast brought blinding blizzards, freezing rain and frigid cold from Maine to Seattle. The Tennessee Valley Authority said in an email that a combination of high winds and freezing temperatures caused its coal-burning Cumberland Fossil Plant to go offline at one point when critical instrumentation froze up. A second coal-burning plant, Bull Run, also went offline, TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said in an email, although he did not provide details. The utility “had issues at some of our natural gas units” as well, Brooks said.

    “The Tennessee Valley Authority’s coal and gas plants failed us over the holiday weekend. People across the Tennessee Valley were forced to deal with rolling blackouts, even as temperatures plunged into the single digits,” Southern Environmental Law Center Tennessee Office Director Amanda Garcia said in an email. “Despite this obvious failure, the federal utility is still planning to spend billions to build new gas plants and pipelines.”

    TVA provides power to 10 million people in parts of seven Southern states. The federal utility issued a statement on Wednesday saying it takes full responsibility for the rolling blackouts on Dec. 23 and Dec. 24, just as many customers were preparing for Christmas.

    “We are conducting a thorough review of what occurred and why. We are committed to sharing these lessons learned and – more importantly – the corrective actions we take in the weeks ahead to ensure we are prepared to manage significant events in the future,” the statement read.

    The utility was already facing scrutiny for its recommendation to replace some aging coal-burning power plants with natural gas, instead of renewables and energy conservation measures — like solar, wind, heat pumps and LEDs. The decision to increase the use of natural gas was made just as TVA is about to seat six new board members nominated by President Joe Biden to fill out its nine-member board of directors. The utility’s recommendation to replace the Cumberland coal plant with a natural gas-fired one could become finalized by TVA’s CEO in the coming weeks.

    Already, TVA is facing a lawsuit that claims it violated federal law by approving a gas-power plant that is under construction at the retired coal-burning Johnsonville Fossil Plant without properly assessing the environmental and climate impacts. TVA has declined to comment on the lawsuit filed this month.

    Biden has set a goal of a carbon-pollution-free energy sector by 2035 that TVA has said it can’t achieve without technological breakthroughs in nuclear generation and energy storage. TVA has set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2035, compared with 2005 levels. CEO Jeff Lyash has said repeatedly that gas is needed because it can provide power at any time, regardless of whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing.

    “TVA’s CEO Lyash does not need to move forward with a massive new gas plant decision at Cumberland as early as January 9 before the new board is fully seated and when we just learned the mandatory blackouts were due to coal and gas failures,” Amy Kelly, with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, said in a statement.

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  • Southwest: Normal flight operations to resume Friday

    Southwest: Normal flight operations to resume Friday

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    DALLAS — Southwest Airlines said it expects to return to normal operations Friday after more than a week of widespread flight cancellations that started with a winter storm and spiraled out of control because of a breakdown with staffing technology.

    If Thursday turns out to be the last day of the Southwest crisis, it will be marked by about 2,350 canceled flights, nearly 60% of the airline’s schedule.

    Southwest declined to say how many people have been affected, but it is likely that far more than 1 million have had a flight canceled.

    The airline has scrapped more than 13,000 flights since Dec. 22, according to tracking service FlightAware. Its planes have 143 to 175 seats and were likely nearly fully booked around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

    Airline executives said that crew-scheduling technology — a major cause of the meltdown — has caught up with the backlog of pilots and flight attendants stranded in wrong locations. Southwest operated 1,600 flights on Thursday, including 104 that carried no passengers but instead served to put planes and crews in position for full operations on Friday.

    Southwest leaders believe they will have enough empty seats over the next several days to accommodate any stranded passengers still wishing to fly on the airline — while conceding that many had either given up or found other transportation.

    Southwest will refund tickets on canceled flights, and executives repeated a promise to reimburse travelers who were forced to pay for hotel rooms, meals and flights on other airlines. The airline’s chief commercial officer said that process will take several weeks. Executives said the airline also will pay to ship baggage that has piled up at airports around the country.

    Southwest lost $75 million during a much smaller disruption in October 2021 that resulted in about 2,000 canceled flights over a four-day stretch.

    CEO Robert Jordan said it was too early to say how much the company will lose in revenue and incur in extra costs because of the current crisis. Jordan told reporters that events of the last week will likely cause Southwest to re-examine priorities and spending levels for technology improvements that were already underway, but he offered no specifics.

    “This has been an incredible disruption, and we can’t have this again,” he said.

    Southwest has struggled to recover after being overwhelmed by a winter storm that swept the country last week. Other airlines bounced back within a couple days, but Southwest ran short of ground workers at airports in Denver and Chicago, and its problems exploded from there.

    On Thursday, Southwest accounted for about 95% of all canceled flights in the United States. Executives said they had canceled only 39, or less than 1% of the schedule, for Friday.

    Jordan faces a crisis just 11 months after he became CEO, replacing longtime leader Gary Kelly. Southwest had 88 planes and 7,000 employees when Jordan joined 35 years ago. Now it has more than 700 planes and more than 60,000 employees.

    Speaking to reporters a month ago at Southwest headquarters in Dallas, a relaxed and jocular Jordan spoke in glowing terms about the airline’s culture and customer service. He outlined five priorities, including modernizing the airline’s technology for scheduling pilots and flight attendants.

    Under Southwest’s system, which dates to the 1990s, when crew members are reassigned to a different flight or even change hotels, “somebody needs to call them or basically in the airport chase them down and tell them what their re-route looks like,” Jordan said.

    “I do think the scale and the growth of the airline got ahead of the tools that we have,” he said. “No fault of anybody — takes investment — and we’ll get all this done.”

    The federal government is investigating what happened at Southwest. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took fresh swipes at the airline on Thursday, tweeting that he would hold Southwest responsible for “unacceptable performance.” He asked followers to tell his department if Southwest fails to reimburse them for travel costs.

    Southwest added a page to its website specifically for stranded travelers, and it invited customers to submit receipts for unexpected expenses. The airline said it would consider reimbursing “reasonable” expenses for meals, hotel rooms and alternate transportation incurred between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2. Consumer advocates criticized the use of the word “reasonable” as too vague.

    Investors cheered signs that Southwest might finally be getting a handle on the crisis. The company’s shares rose nearly 4%, but were still down nearly 8% for the week.

    Southwest has been the most profitable U.S. airline so far this year, earning $759 million in net income through September.

    Raymond James airline analyst Savanthi Syth said Thursday that she still expects the company to post a small profit in the fourth quarter, but that some consumers are likely to switch from Southwest to other airlines over the next few months when booking travel.

    Another airline analyst, Colin Scarola of CFRA, said he too didn’t expect the “Christmas week fiasco” to have a lasting impact because Southwest often has lower fares than its three largest rivals: American, United and Delta.

    “History shows customers tend not to permanently ditch an airline even after an awful experience due to the commodity-like nature of the product,” he wrote in a note to clients.

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  • Death toll climbs as blizzard-battered Buffalo area digs out

    Death toll climbs as blizzard-battered Buffalo area digs out

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. — Roads reopened Thursday in storm-besieged Buffalo as authorities continued searching for people who may have died or are stuck and suffering after last week’s blizzard.

    The driving ban in New York’s second-most-populous city was lifted just after midnight Thursday, Mayor Byron Brown announced.

    At least 40 deaths in western New York, most of them in Buffalo, have been reported from the blizzard that raged across much of the country, with Buffalo in its crosshairs on Friday and Saturday.

    “Significant progress has been made” on snow removal, Brown said at a news conference late Wednesday. Suburban roads, major highways and Buffalo Niagara International Airport had already reopened.

    Still, Brown urged residents not to drive if they didn’t have to.

    The National Guard was going door-to-door to check on people who lost power, and authorities faced the possibility of finding more victims as snow melted amid increasingly mild weather. Buffalo police and officers from other law enforcement agencies also searched for victims, sometimes using officers’ personal snowmobiles, trucks and other equipment.

    Some victims have yet to be identified, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at a storm briefing Thursday.

    “There are families in this community who still have not been able to identify where a loved one is, they’re missing,” he said.

    With the death toll already surpassing that of the area’s notorious Blizzard of 1977 and rising daily, local officials faced questions about the response to last week’s storm. They insisted that they prepared but the weather was extraordinary, even for a region prone to powerful winter storms.

    “The city did everything that it could under historic blizzard conditions,” the mayor said Wednesday.

    Meanwhile, officials watched a forecast that calls for some rain later in the week as snow melts in temperatures approaching or topping 50 degrees (10 Celsius).

    The National Weather Service forecast that any flooding would be minor, but state and local officials said they were preparing nonetheless. Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state was ready to deploy nearly 800,000 sandbags and more than 300 pumps and generators for flooding response efforts if needed.

    During his briefing, Poloncarz apologized for publicly criticizing the city of Buffalo’s snow removal efforts as too slow, even “embarrassing,” a day earlier.

    “We’ve been dealing with much, including the unfolding issues associated with the deaths, the identification of bodies, individuals who have not yet been identified, and new deaths that are coming in that are absolutely heartbreaking,” said Poloncarz, adding that he was trying to contact Brown to make amends. “I basically lost my focus.”

    Brown had rebuffed Poloncarz’s complaints, saying Wednesday that the city had been “working diligently, working around the clock” to clear snow and strove to work cooperatively with others in government and the community.

    Brown, Poloncarz and Hochul all are Democrats.

    A company that estimates damage from natural disasters said insured losses from the winter storm would be $5.4 billion across 42 states. Karen Clark & Co. said New York, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina sustained the most storm damage, with freezing temperatures, which can result in infrastructure disruptions and burst pipes, accounting for the vast majority of the loss.

    ———

    Peltz reported from New York.

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  • Whale Watch Week returns in-person in Oregon after pandemic

    Whale Watch Week returns in-person in Oregon after pandemic

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    PORTLAND, Ore. — Whale Watch Week in Oregon returned in-person for the first time since the pandemic on Wednesday, drawing visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of the annual gray whale migration to the state’s coastline.

    By early afternoon, more than 500 people had flocked to the Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay, where a volunteer equipped with binoculars pointed out whales in the distance. A spokesperson for Oregon State Parks, which organizes the event, described scenes of excited spectators as several were spotted.

    “She’s seeing the spray and calling it out,” Stefanie Knowlton told The Associated Press on the phone as she watched the center’s volunteer, the crowd cheering in the background. “There’s just so much energy. You could just really feel that people were ready to come back and watch whales together.”

    Volunteers will be at 17 state parks along the coast through Sunday to help people spot the nearly 20,000 gray whales that make the southward journey to Mexico every year.

    One of the sites, Cape Meares, was closed Wednesday after strong winds the previous day knocked over trees, Knowlton said.

    Oregon State Parks organizes whale watching events twice a year, in the winter for gray whales’ southern migration and in the spring for their return to northern waters near Alaska.

    Oregon’s central coast is also a hot spot for whale watching from June to mid-November, when the gray whales that remained in the state’s coastal waters during the summer migration come close to shore to feed, according to the agency.

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  • With warming, snowbound Buffalo braces to find more dead

    With warming, snowbound Buffalo braces to find more dead

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo was set to emerge from a deep freeze Wednesday, bringing some relief but also the tragic possibility of finding more victims amid melting snow from the area’s deadliest storm in decades.

    Officials said more than 30 people so far have been reported to have died because of the blizzard that raged Friday and Saturday in western New York, an area prone to powerful winter storms. The historic Blizzard of 1977 killed as many as 29.

    Antwaine Parker told The Buffalo News that his mother, Carolyn Eubanks, perished at the home of strangers who took her in after her family tried to get help for the ailing woman.

    Eubanks, 63, relied on an oxygen machine. With the power out in her home and emergency responders unable to answer calls amid the blizzard, Parker said, he and his stepbrother drove through the snow Saturday to rescue her themselves. She collapsed as they led her to a car, he said.

    “She’s like, ‘I can’t go no further.’ I’m begging her, ‘Mom, just stand up.’ She fell in my arms and never spoke another word,” Parker told the newspaper.

    The stepbrothers knocked on nearby doors, seeking someone who would help. They found David Purdy, who opened his door to two desperate strangers and helped them carry Eubanks inside and try in vain to revive her.

    After they realized she was gone, Purdy and his fiancee sheltered her body until first responders showed up with plows the next day.

    “I done it as respectful as I could,” Purdy told The Buffalo News. His own mother is roughly the same age as Eubanks was and also uses an oxygen machine, he said, and “if she needed help, I’d hope there would be people out there to help her, as well.”

    Temperatures were expected to rise into the mid-40s (around 7 degrees Celsuis) on Wednesday and the low 50s (around 10 Celsius) by Friday, the National Weather Service said.

    With enough snow still on the ground that driving was still banned in New York’s second-most-populous city, officials worked to clear storm drains and watched a forecast that calls for some rain later in the week. Officials in Erie County, which encompasses Buffalo, said Tuesday they were concerned about the possibility of flooding.

    The weather service said Wednesday that “any flooding is expected to be of the minor or nuisance variety.”

    While suburban roads and most major highways in the area reopened Tuesday, there was still a driving ban in Buffalo, and state and military police were assigned to enforce it. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, a Democrat, said “too many people are ignoring the ban.”

    A Facebook group originally created in 2014, when Buffalo was buried under deep snow, has become a lifeline, seeking to help thousands seeking food, medicine, shelter and rescue in the latest storm. Currently managed by five women, the group swelled to at least 68,000 people as of Tuesday.

    “We are seeing a lot of desperation,” said Erin Aquilinia, founder of the original group, in an online interview.

    ———

    Contributing to this report were Associated Press journalists Jennifer Peltz and Julie Walker in New York; Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri; Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut; and Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida.

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  • Philippine rain, flooding cause at least 25 deaths, damage

    Philippine rain, flooding cause at least 25 deaths, damage

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    MANILA, Philippines — The death toll from heavy rains and floods that devastated parts of the Philippines over the Christmas weekend has risen to 25, with 26 others still missing, the national disaster response agency said Wednesday.

    Nearly 400,000 people were affected, with over 81,000 still in shelters and nine others injured, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.

    Sixteen of the 25 deaths were reported in Northern Mindanao region in the south, while 12 of the 26 missing are from the eastern Bicol region, the council added.

    A shear line — the point where warm and cold air meet — triggered rains in parts of eastern, central and southern Philippines, the state weather bureau PAGASA said.

    The weather disturbance disrupted Christmas celebration in affected provinces, with photos from the southern province of Misamis Occidental showing rescuers carrying an elderly woman on a plastic chair as they waded through a flooded street. Some residents in the province were seen hanging on to floaters as coast guard rescuers pulled them across chest-deep flood using a rope.

    The disaster management council said 1,196 houses were damaged by the floods, while sections of 123 roads and 12 bridges were affected. Some areas remain without power or water supply.

    While the effect of the shear line has weakened, a new low pressure area may bring moderate to heavy rains within the next 24 hours to the same areas affected by the Christmas weekend floods. The weather bureau said Wednesday that flooding and landslides are likely, especially in areas with significant prior rainfall.

    Each year about 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries. The archipelago is located on the “Ring of Fire” along the Pacific Ocean’s rim, where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

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  • Military police enforce driving ban in snow-stricken Buffalo

    Military police enforce driving ban in snow-stricken Buffalo

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. — State and military police were sent Tuesday to keep people off Buffalo’s snow-choked roads, and officials kept counting fatalities three days after western New York’s deadliest storm in at least two generations.

    Even as suburban roads and most major highways in the area reopened, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz warned that police would be stationed at entrances to Buffalo and at major intersections because some drivers were flouting a ban on driving within New York’s second-most populous city.

    More than 30 people are reported to have died in the region, officials said, including seven storm-related deaths announced Tuesday by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown’s office. The toll surpasses that of the historic Blizzard of 1977, blamed for killing as many as 29 people in an area known for harsh winter weather.

    Greg Monett turned to social media to beg for help shoveling a 6-foot (1.8-meter) pile of snow from the end of his Buffalo driveway so he could get dialysis treatment Tuesday.

    “This has been a nightmare,” he said in an interview Monday. Power had been out for a time at his family’s home, he said, so relatives ran a gas stove to keep warm, a practice he acknowledged was dangerous.

    “We had to do what we had to do,” said Monett, 43. “We would have froze to death in here.”

    He ultimately made it to dialysis after climbing through the snow and having neighbors help dig out his buried vehicle, sister Maria Monett said.

    The National Weather Service predicted that as much as 2 inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters) more snow could fall Tuesday in Erie County, which includes Buffalo and its 275,000 residents. County Emergency Services Commissioner Dan Neaverth Jr. said officials also were somewhat concerned about the potential for flooding later in the week, when the weather is projected to warm and start melting the snow.

    The rest of the United States also was reeling from the ferocious winter storm, with at least an additional two dozen deaths reported in other parts of the country, and power outages in communities from Maine to Washington state.

    On the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s reservation in South Dakota, there were plans to use snowmobiles Tuesday to reach residents after food boxes were delivered by helicopter and trucks over the weekend, the tribe said.

    In Buffalo, the dead were found in cars, homes and snowbanks. Some died while shoveling snow, others when emergency crews could not respond in time to medical crises. Poloncarz, a Democrat, called the blizzard “the worst storm probably in our lifetime,” even for an area known for heavy snow. More bodies are expected to be found as the snow is cleared or melts.

    The winter blast stranded some people in cars for days, shuttered the city’s airport and left some residents shivering without heat. More than 4,000 homes and businesses were still without power late Tuesday morning.

    President Joe Biden offered federal assistance Monday to New York, allowing for reimbursement of some storm-relief efforts. Gov. Kathy Hochul toured the aftermath in Buffalo, her hometown, and called the blizzard “one for the ages.” Almost every fire truck in the city became stranded Saturday, she said.

    Hochul, a Democrat, noted the storm came a little over a month after the region was inundated with another historic snowfall. Between the two storms, snowfall totals are not far off from the 95.4 inches (242 centimeters) the area normally sees in an entire winter season.

    The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 49.2 inches (1.25 meters) at 10 a.m. Monday. Officials said the airport will be shut through Wednesday morning.

    Roughly 3,000 domestic and international U.S. flights were canceled Tuesday as of about 2 p.m. Eastern time, according to the tracking site FlightAware.

    The U.S. Department of Transportation said it will look into Southwest Airlines flight cancellations that left travelers stranded at airports across the country amid the winter storm. Many airlines were forced to call off flights, but Southwest was by far the leader.

    ———

    Peltz reported from New York. Associated Press journalists Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri, and Julie Walker in New York contributed.

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  • Storm adds uncertainty to strong holiday travel demand

    Storm adds uncertainty to strong holiday travel demand

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    Concerns about illness or inflation aren’t stopping Americans from hitting the roads and airports this holiday season. But a massive winter storm might.

    Forecasters predict an onslaught of heavy snow, ice, flooding and powerful winds from Thursday to Saturday in a broad swath of the country, from the Plains and Midwest to the East Coast. A surge of Arctic air will follow. The Christmas weekend could be the coldest in decades.

    The National Weather Service said Wednesday the storm was so large and encompassing that around 190 million people are currently under some type of winter weather advisory.

    Southwest Airlines said it has canceled 500 of its 4,000 scheduled flights on Thursday and Friday. The company said it wanted to maintain safe operations for both passengers and crew.

    At least 145 flights into or out of Denver International Airport were canceled Wednesday as the city was hit with snow, gusty winds and freezing temperatures, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking company. At least 219 flights into or out of Denver were expected to be canceled Thursday.

    FlightAware was also expecting at least 364 flights to be canceled Thursday at O’Hare and Midway airports in Chicago. Earlier this week, those two airports said they had 350 pieces of snow removal equipment and 400,000 gallons of pavement de-icing fluid on hand for the storm.

    Delta, American, United, Frontier, Alaska, Southwest and other airlines were waiving change fees and offering travelers the option of choosing new flights to avoid the bad weather.

    Jean-Paul Blancq got to Boston’s Logan Airport a day early for his Thursday flight home to New Orleans. Blancq had to take a bus to Logan from his seasonal job in New Hampshire and was unsure of the storm’s path.

    “I hope that my flight doesn’t get canceled because I don’t know what I’ll do,” Blancq said.

    Bianca Thrasher-Starobin, a consultant and lobbyist in Atlanta, flew into New York Wednesday morning for an event and planned to fly out the same night.

    “I’m trying to get out of this weather. I would have stayed longer but I just can’t take that chance,” she said as she raced through LaGuardia Airport.

    Bus and train travelers were also bracing for cancellations and delays.

    As of late Wednesday, Amtrak had canceled train service on around 30 routes, some through Dec. 25. Greyhound canceled bus service on 25 routes for Wednesday and Thursday, including service from Las Vegas to Denver, Denver to St. Louis and Chicago to Minneapolis, Memphis and Nashville.

    The weather added uncertainty to what was expected to be a busy travel season. Earlier this month, AAA estimated that nearly 113 million people would travel 50 miles from home or more between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2. That’s 4% higher than last year, although still short of the record 119 million in 2019.

    Most planned to travel by car. About 6% will travel by air, AAA said. Either way, many travelers found themselves hastily changing their itineraries.

    Joel Lustre originally planned to drive from Bloomington, Indiana, to McGregor, Iowa, on Thursday. But he shifted his work schedule, and his wife canceled an appointment so they could leave Wednesday and beat the storm.

    In Montana, several ski areas announced closures Wednesday and Thursday due to the extremely cold temperatures and sustained winds. Others scaled back offerings. Schools were also closed due to the cold.

    Authorities across the country are worried about the potential for power outages and warned people to take precautions to protect the elderly, the homeless and livestock — and, if possible, to postpone travel.

    “If you don’t have to be out driving, especially on Friday, we ask that you don’t be out there,” said Ron Brundidge, Detroit’s public works director. Brundidge said 50 trucks will be out salting major roads on around-the-clock shifts once expected rain turns to snow on Friday.

    Kelli Larkin arrived Wednesday from Florida for a holiday trip to New York. She plans to fly back Saturday night but said she’ll watch the forecast and change her return flight if she has to.

    “It’s a little concerning,” she said. “We’ve got to play it by ear.”

    Kurt Ebenhoch, a consumer travel advocate and former airline executive, said fee waivers give airline passengers valuable time ahead of a storm to figure out alternate days and routes. But consumers should read the fine print carefully. Airlines might charge the difference in fares if passengers book beyond a certain window, for example.

    Ebenhoch stressed that passengers have the right to ask the airline to book them on a different airline’s flight if there are no options that meet their needs. And if the airline cancels the flight, consumers have the right to a full refund, not just credits for future travel.

    The urge to travel and visit family and friends over the holidays appeared to outweigh concerns about illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said coronavirus cases and deaths have increased in recent weeks, and the trio of COVID-19, seasonal flu and respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV, continues to stress the health care system.

    Inflation also didn’t seem to be cutting into holiday travel demand. The average round-trip airfare rose 22% to $397 in the second quarter of this year — the most recent period available — according to U.S. government data. That was higher than overall U.S. price inflation, which peaked at 9% in June.

    Lindsey Roeschke, a travel and hospitality analyst with Morning Consult, a market research company, said travelers appear to be cutting back in other ways.

    In a recent survey, Morning Consult found that 28% of U.S. travelers were planning a one-day trip for the holidays, up from 14% last year. There was also an uptick in the number of people planning to stay with friends or family instead of at hotels. Roeschke thinks higher prices were a factor.

    ___

    Associated Press Photographer Julie Nikhinson in New York and Associated Press Writers Steve LeBlanc in Boston, Corey Williams in Detroit, Julie Walker in New York, Amy Hanson in Helena, Montana, and Amancai Biraben in Los Angeles contributed.

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  • Hawaii winter storm: thunder, hail and power outages

    Hawaii winter storm: thunder, hail and power outages

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    HONOLULU (AP) — A strong winter storm downed trees, knocked out power and flooded soccer fields as it moved across the Hawaiian Islands. Snow fell on the Big Island’s tallest peaks.

    National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Rozanski said Tuesday that the weather is typical of the kind of storm Hawaii occasionally gets in December and January. He called these storms “infrequent but not unusual.”

    The cold front came in from the northwest, delivering thunderstorms, powerful wind gusts and high surf. Some residents reported pea-sized hail, which Rozanski said was to be expected during a storm of this kind.

    Honolulu received dozens of calls about downed trees and branches. The county’s parks department closed Waipio’s soccer fields because they were saturated.

    A power outage forced the closure of the Wailuku courthouse. That prompted Hawaii Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald to order the rescheduling of hearings, trials and filing deadlines on Maui.

    Talmadge Magno, the director of Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency, said that downed trees and flooding have blocked some roads.

    Snow fell on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, including where a vent was spewing lava only a few weeks ago as Mauna Loa erupted for the first time in 38 years. Winter snow on these mountains is not uncommon at high elevations. Mauna Kea rises to 13,803 feet (4,207 meters), and Mauna Loa is 13,679 feet (4,169 m).

    The storm was still battering the Big Island as it moved east on Tuesday. Magno said his agency expects to report the extent of the storm damage to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency on Friday.

    The cold front is separate from another storm that started hitting the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday and that’s expected to move to the northern Rockies, Plains and Midwest.

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  • Western NY death toll rises to 28 from cold, storm chaos

    Western NY death toll rises to 28 from cold, storm chaos

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo residents hovered around space heaters, hunted for cars buried in snow drifts and looked for more victims Monday, after 28 people died in one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit western New York.

    The rest of the United States also was reeling from the ferocious winter storm, with at least another two dozen deaths reported in other parts of the country.

    Up to 9 more inches of snow (23 centimeters) could fall in some areas of western New York through Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

    “This is not the end yet,” said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, calling the blizzard “the worst storm probably in our lifetime,” even for an area accustomed to punishing snow.

    Some people, he noted, were stranded in their cars for more than two days.

    President Joe Biden said his prayers were with the victims’ families, and offered federal assistance Monday to the hard-hit state.

    Those who lost their lives around Buffalo were found in cars, homes and snowbanks. Some died while shoveling snow, others when emergency crews could not respond in time to medical crises.

    Melissa Carrick, a doula, said the blizzard forced her to coach a pregnant client through childbirth by telephone. An ambulance crew transported the woman to a hospital about 45 minutes south of Buffalo because none of the closer hospitals were reachable.

    “In any other normal Buffalo storm? I would just go because that’s what you do – just drive through the snow,” she said. “But you knew this was different.”

    Scientists say the climate change crisis may have contributed to the intensity of the storm. That’s because the atmosphere can carry more water vapor, which acts as fuel, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

    Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at Northern Illinois University, likened a single weather event to an “at-bat” — and the climate as your “batting average.”

    “It’s hard to say,” Serreze said. “But are the dice a little bit loaded now? Absolutely.”

    The blizzard roared across western New York Friday and Saturday. With many grocery stores in the Buffalo area closed and driving bans in place, some people pleaded on social media for donations of food and diapers.

    “It was like looking at a white wall for 14 to 18 hours straight,” Poloncarz, the county official, said.

    Relief is coming later this week, as forecasts call for temperatures to slowly rise, said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

    Cook said the bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — has weakened. It developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions including heavy winds and snow.

    Some 3,410 domestic and international flights were canceled Monday as of about 3 p.m. EDT, according to the tracking site FlightAware. The site said Southwest Airlines had 2,497 cancellations — about 60% of its scheduled flights and about 10 times as many as any other major U.S. carrier.

    Southwest said the weather was improving, which would “stabilize and improve our situation.”

    Based on FlightAware data, airports all across the U.S. were suffering from cancellations and delays, including Denver, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle, Baltimore and Chicago.

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul toured the aftermath in Buffalo — her hometown — on Monday, calling the blizzard “one for the ages.” Almost every fire truck in the city became stranded Saturday, she said.

    Hochul noted the storm came a little over a month after the region was inundated with another “historic” snowfall. Between the two storms, snowfall totals are not far off from the 95.4 inches (242 centimeters) the area normally sees in an entire winter season.

    The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 49.2 inches (1.25 meters) at 10 a.m. Monday. Officials say the airport will be shut through Wednesday morning.

    Shahida Muhammad told WKBW that an outage knocked out power to her 1-year-old son’s ventilator. She and the child’s father manually administered breaths from Friday until Sunday when rescuers saw her desperate social media posts and came to their aid. She said her son was doing well despite the ordeal and described him as “a fighter.”

    In a makeshift hut in her living room, Trisha LoGrasso was still huddled around a space heater Monday with three of her children and her eldest daughter’s boyfriend. The temperature inside her Buffalo home was 42 degrees (5.5 C). She was without heat because of a gas leak, and burst pipes left her with no running water.

    “I’ve lived here my whole life, and this is the worst storm I’ve ever seen,” the 48-year-old said.

    Melissa Osmon and her husband James were without power for more than 72 hours in the Buffalo suburb of Williamsville, and would retreat to their car to stay warm for hours at a time.

    “We even watched the Buffalo Bills game on our phone,” Osmon said, speaking by phone from her GMC Acadia.

    “You can see your breath inside the house,” she said. “That’s how cold it is.”

    The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle.

    Storm-related deaths were reported practically nationwide, including at least eight killed in crashes in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky. A woman fell through Wisconsin river ice, and there was a fatal fire at a Kansas homeless persons camp.

    In Jackson, Mississippi, crews struggled Monday to get water through the capital city’s beleaguered water system, authorities said. Many areas had no water or low water pressure. On Christmas Day, residents were told to boil their drinking water due to water lines bursting in the frigid temperatures.

    “The issue has to be significant leaks in the system that we have yet to identify,” the city said in a statement Monday.

    ___

    Associated Press journalist Jake Bleiberg in Dallas; Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Jonathan Mattise in Charleston, West Virginia; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Wilson Ring in Stowe, Vermont; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; and Ron Todt in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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  • Western NY death toll rises to 28 from cold, storm chaos

    Western NY death toll rises to 28 from cold, storm chaos

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo residents hovered around space heaters, hunted for cars buried in snow drifts and looked for more victims Monday, after 28 people died in one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit western New York.

    The rest of the United States also was reeling from the ferocious winter storm, with at least another two dozen deaths reported in other parts of the country.

    Up to 9 more inches of snow (23 centimeters) could fall in some areas of western New York through Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

    “This is not the end yet,” said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, calling the blizzard “the worst storm probably in our lifetime,” even for an area accustomed to punishing snow.

    Some people, he noted, were stranded in their cars for more than two days.

    President Joe Biden said his prayers were with the victims’ families, and offered federal assistance Monday to the hard-hit state.

    Those who lost their lives around Buffalo were found in cars, homes and snowbanks. Some died while shoveling snow, others when emergency crews could not respond in time to medical crises.

    Melissa Carrick, a doula, said the blizzard forced her to coach a pregnant client through childbirth by telephone. An ambulance crew transported the woman to a hospital about 45 minutes south of Buffalo because none of the closer hospitals were reachable.

    “In any other normal Buffalo storm? I would just go because that’s what you do – just drive through the snow,” she said. “But you knew this was different.”

    Scientists say the climate change crisis may have contributed to the intensity of the storm. That’s because the atmosphere can carry more water vapor, which acts as fuel, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

    Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at Northern Illinois University, likened a single weather event to an “at-bat” — and the climate as your “batting average.”

    “It’s hard to say,” Serreze said. “But are the dice a little bit loaded now? Absolutely.”

    The blizzard roared across western New York Friday and Saturday. With many grocery stores in the Buffalo area closed and driving bans in place, some people pleaded on social media for donations of food and diapers.

    “It was like looking at a white wall for 14 to 18 hours straight,” Poloncarz, the county official, said.

    Relief is coming later this week, as forecasts call for temperatures to slowly rise, said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

    Cook said the bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — has weakened. It developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions including heavy winds and snow.

    Some 3,410 domestic and international flights were canceled Monday as of about 3 p.m. EDT, according to the tracking site FlightAware. The site said Southwest Airlines had 2,497 cancellations — about 60% of its scheduled flights and about 10 times as many as any other major U.S. carrier.

    Southwest said the weather was improving, which would “stabilize and improve our situation.”

    Based on FlightAware data, airports all across the U.S. were suffering from cancellations and delays, including Denver, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle, Baltimore and Chicago.

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul toured the aftermath in Buffalo — her hometown — on Monday, calling the blizzard “one for the ages.” Almost every fire truck in the city became stranded Saturday, she said.

    Hochul noted the storm came a little over a month after the region was inundated with another “historic” snowfall. Between the two storms, snowfall totals are not far off from the 95.4 inches (242 centimeters) the area normally sees in an entire winter season.

    The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 49.2 inches (1.25 meters) at 10 a.m. Monday. Officials say the airport will be shut through Wednesday morning.

    Shahida Muhammad told WKBW that an outage knocked out power to her 1-year-old son’s ventilator. She and the child’s father manually administered breaths from Friday until Sunday when rescuers saw her desperate social media posts and came to their aid. She said her son was doing well despite the ordeal and described him as “a fighter.”

    In a makeshift hut in her living room, Trisha LoGrasso was still huddled around a space heater Monday with three of her children and her eldest daughter’s boyfriend. The temperature inside her Buffalo home was 42 degrees (5.5 C). She was without heat because of a gas leak, and burst pipes left her with no running water.

    “I’ve lived here my whole life, and this is the worst storm I’ve ever seen,” the 48-year-old said.

    Melissa Osmon and her husband James were without power for more than 72 hours in the Buffalo suburb of Williamsville, and would retreat to their car to stay warm for hours at a time.

    “We even watched the Buffalo Bills game on our phone,” Osmon said, speaking by phone from her GMC Acadia.

    “You can see your breath inside the house,” she said. “That’s how cold it is.”

    The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle.

    Storm-related deaths were reported practically nationwide, including at least eight killed in crashes in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky. A woman fell through Wisconsin river ice, and there was a fatal fire at a Kansas homeless persons camp.

    In Jackson, Mississippi, crews struggled Monday to get water through the capital city’s beleaguered water system, authorities said. Many areas had no water or low water pressure. On Christmas Day, residents were told to boil their drinking water due to water lines bursting in the frigid temperatures.

    “The issue has to be significant leaks in the system that we have yet to identify,” the city said in a statement Monday.

    ———

    Associated Press journalist Jake Bleiberg in Dallas; Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Jonathan Mattise in Charleston, West Virginia; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Wilson Ring in Stowe, Vermont; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; and Ron Todt in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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  • Dig-out begins after deadly winter storm claims 27 lives in western New York alone

    Dig-out begins after deadly winter storm claims 27 lives in western New York alone

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) —  The death toll from a pre-Christmas blizzard that paralyzed the Buffalo area and much of the country has risen to 27 in western New York, authorities said Monday, as the region dug out from one of the worst weather-related disasters in its history.

    The dead have been found in cars, in their homes and in snowbanks. Some died while shoveling. The storm that walloped much of the country is now blamed for at least 48 deaths nationwide, with rescue and recovery efforts continuing Monday.

    Living With Climate Change: Climate change and the polar vortex: Winter storms are normal, but this string of severe Christmas weather isn’t typical

    The blizzard roared through the western New York state on Friday and Saturday, stranding motorists, knocking out power and preventing emergency crews from reaching residents in frigid homes and idled vehicles.

    “ Buffalo, N.Y., was experiencing its longest sustained blizzard conditions ever, said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a native Buffalonian. ”

    Huge snowdrifts nearly covered cars Monday, and there were thousands of houses, some adorned in unlit holiday displays, darkened by lack of power.

    The massive storm is expected to claim more lives because it trapped some residents inside houses and knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

    Extreme weather stretched from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted dramatically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians.

    The National Weather Service said Sunday that the frigid arctic air “enveloping much of the eastern half of the U.S.” would move away slowly.

    Hurricane-force winds and snow causing whiteout conditions paralyzed emergency response efforts in Buffalo.

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo native, said almost every fire truck in the city was stranded Saturday and implored people Sunday to respect an ongoing driving ban in the region. The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 43 inches (1.1 meters) at 7 a.m. Sunday. Officials said the airport would be shut through Tuesday morning.

    With snow swirling down impassable streets, forecasters warned an additional 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 centimeters) of snow was possible in some areas through early Monday morning amid wind gusts of 40 mph (64 kph). Police said Sunday evening that there were two “isolated” instances of looting during the storm.

    Two people died in their suburban Cheektowaga, N.Y., homes Friday when emergency crews could not reach them in time to treat medical conditions. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said 10 more people died there during the storm, including six in Buffalo, and warned there may be more dead.

    “Some were found in cars. Some were found on the street in snowbanks,” Poloncarz said. “We know there are people who have been stuck in cars for more than two days.”

    The Margin: Why you should always keep cat litter in your car — and other winter storm tips

    Freezing conditions and power outages had Buffalonians scrambling to get to anywhere with heat amid what Hochul described as the longest sustained blizzard conditions ever in the city.

    Ditjak Ilunga of Gaithersburg, Md., 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.

    “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’s doors. “It’s something I will never forget in my life.”

    Travelers’ weather woes continued, with hundreds of flight cancellations already and more expected after a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow.

    The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle. But heat and lights were steadily being restored across the U.S. According to the website poweroutage.us, fewer than 200,000 customers were without power Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern time — down from a maximum of 1.7 million.

    The Margin: Five tips for staying safe and warm during a power outage

    The mid-Atlantic grid operator had called for its 65 million consumers to conserve energy amid the freeze Saturday.

    Storm-related deaths were reported all over the country, from six motorists killed in crashes in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky to a woman who fell through Wisconsin river ice.

    In Jackson, Miss., city officials on Christmas Day announced residents must now boil their drinking water due to water lines bursting in the frigid temperatures.

    MarketWatch contributed.

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  • Western NY death toll rises to 27 from cold, storm chaos

    Western NY death toll rises to 27 from cold, storm chaos

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. — The death toll from a pre-Christmas blizzard that paralyzed the Buffalo area and much of the country has risen to 27 in western New York authorities said Monday as the region dug out from one of the worst weather-related disasters in its history.

    The dead have been found in their cars, homes and in snowbanks. Some died while shoveling snow. The storm that walloped much of the country is now blamed for at least 48 deaths nationwide, with rescue and recovery efforts continuing Monday.

    The blizzard roared through the western New York Friday and Saturday, stranding motorists, knocking out power and preventing emergency crews from reaching residents in frigid homes and stuck cars.

    Huge snowdrifts nearly covered cars Monday and there were thousands of houses, some adorned in unlit holiday displays, that have been dark from a lack of power.

    The massive storm is expected to claim more lives because it trapped some residents inside houses and knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

    Extreme weather stretched from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians.

    The National Weather Service said Sunday the frigid arctic air “enveloping much of the eastern half of the U.S.” will move away slowly.

    Buffalo saw hurricane-force winds and snow causing whiteout conditions that paralyzed emergency response efforts.

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said almost every fire truck in the city was stranded Saturday and she implored people Sunday to respect an ongoing driving ban in the region. The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 43 inches (1.1 meters) at 7 a.m. Sunday. Officials said the airport would be shut through Tuesday morning.

    With snow swirling down untouched and impassable streets, forecasters warned an additional 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 centimeters) of snow was possible in some areas through early Monday morning amid wind gusts of 40 mph (64 kph). Police said Sunday evening that there were two “isolated” instances of looting during the storm.

    Two people died in their suburban Cheektowaga, New York, homes Friday when emergency crews could not reach them in time to treat their medical conditions. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said 10 more people died there during the storm, including six in Buffalo, and warned there may be more dead.

    “Some were found in cars, some were found on the street in snowbanks,” Poloncarz said. “We know there are people who have been stuck in cars for more than two days.”

    Freezing conditions and power outages had Buffalonians scrambling to get to anywhere with heat amid what Hochul called the longest sustained blizzard conditions ever in the city.

    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.

    “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.”

    Travelers’ weather woes continued, with hundreds of flight cancellations already and more expected after a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow.

    The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle. According to poweroutage.us, fewer than 100,000 customers were without power Monday at 7 a.m. EDT — down from a peak of 1.7 million.

    The mid-Atlantic grid operator had called for its 65 million consumers to conserve energy amid the freeze Saturday.

    Storm-related deaths were reported all over the country, from six motorists killed in crashes in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky to a woman who fell through Wisconsin river ice.

    In Jackson, Mississippi, city officials on Christmas Day announced residents must now boil their drinking water due to water lines bursting in the frigid temperatures

    ———

    Bleiberg reported from Dallas. Associated Press journalist Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles; Jonathan Mattise in Charleston, West Virginia; Ron Todt in Philadelphia; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; and Wilson Ring in Stowe, Vermont, contributed to this report.

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  • Six passengers killed when bus plunges into river in Spain

    Six passengers killed when bus plunges into river in Spain

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    Authorities in Spain says rescuers have recovered the victims from a bus that ran off a bridge and plunged into a river on Christmas Eve, killing six passengers and injuring the driver and another passenger

    MADRID — Rescuers on Sunday recovered the victims from a bus that ran off a bridge and plunged into a river on Christmas Eve, killing six passengers and injuring the driver and another passenger, Spanish authorities said.

    The blue roof of the half-sunk vehicle could be seen in the Lérez river about 30 meters (100 feet) below the bridge. Emergency services were alerted by a motorist who saw the broken railing on the bridge as he drove in heavy rain.

    The Spanish Guardia Civil said a total of eight people were on the bus. The two survivors were rescued Saturday night and taken to hospitals. The bodies of the dead were retrieved Sunday.

    Regional president Alfonso Rueda said the bad weather conditions were a possible cause of the accident.

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  • Millions in US hunker down from frigid, deadly monster storm

    Millions in US hunker down from frigid, deadly monster storm

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. — Millions of people hunkered down in a deep freeze overnight and early morning to ride out the frigid storm that has killed at least 18 people across the United States, trapping some residents inside homes with heaping snow drifts and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.

    The scope of the storm has been nearly unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, the National Weather Service said.

    More than 2,360 domestic and international flights were canceled Saturday, according to the tracking site FlightAware.

    Forecasters said a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — had developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow.

    The storm 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 — and shutting down the airport through Monday, according to officials.

    Freezing conditions and day-old power outages had Buffalonians scrambling Saturday to get out of their homes to anywhere that had heat. But with city 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.”

    Mark Poloncarz, executive of Erie County, home to Buffalo, said ambulances were taking more than three hours to make a single hospital trip and the blizzard may be “the worst storm in our community’s history.”

    Two people died in their suburban Cheektowaga, New York, homes Friday when emergency crews could not reach them in time to treat their medical conditions, he said, and another died in Buffalo.

    “We can’t just pick up everybody and take you to a warming center. We don’t have the capability of doing that,” Poloncarz said. “Many, many neighborhoods, especially in the city of Buffalo, are still impassable.”

    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 in the vehicle buffeted by wind and nearly buried in snow.

    By 4 a.m. Saturday, with 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, stepping into his footprints as they trudged through drifts.

    “If I stay in this car I’m going to die here with my kids,” he recalled thinking, but believing they had to try. He cried when the family walked through the shelter doors. “It’s something I will never forget in my life.”

    The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle, and a major electricity grid operator warned 65 million people across the eastern U.S. of possible rolling blackouts.

    Across the six New England states, more than 273,000 customers remained without power on Saturday, with Maine the hardest hit. Some utilities said electricity may not be restored for days.

    In North Carolina, 169,000 customers were without power Saturday afternoon, down from more than 485,000. Utility officials said rolling blackouts would continue for the next few days.

    Storm-related deaths were reported in recent days all over the country: Four dead in an Ohio Turnpike pileup involving some 50 vehicles; four motorists killed in separate crashes in Missouri and Kansas; an Ohio utility worker electrocuted; a Vermont woman struck by a falling branch; an apparently homeless man found amid Colorado’s subzero temperatures; a woman who fell through Wisconsin river ice.

    In Mexico, migrants camped near the U.S. border were facing unusually cold temperatures as they awaited a U.S. Supreme Court decision on pandemic-era restrictions preventing many from seeking asylum.

    Along Interstate 71 in Kentucky, Terry Henderson and her husband, Rick, weathered a 34-hour traffic jam in a rig outfitted with a diesel heater, a toilet and a refrigerator after getting stuck trying to drive from Alabama to their Ohio home for Christmas.

    “We should have stayed,” Terry Henderson said after they got moving again Saturday.

    Poloncarz of Erie County tweeted late Saturday that 34.6 inches (about 88 centimeters) of snow had accumulated at the Buffalo Airport and drifts were well over 6 feet (1.8 meters) in some areas. Blizzard conditions were expected to ease early Sunday, he continued, but continuing lake effect snow was forecast.

    Vivian Robinson of Spirit of Truth Urban Ministry in Buffalo said she and her husband have been sheltering and cooking for 60 to 70 people, including stranded travelers and locals without power or heat, who were spending Saturday night at the church.

    Many arrived with ice and snow plastered to their clothes, crying, their skin reddened by the single-digit temperatures. On Saturday night, they prepared to spend Christmas together.

    “It’s emotional just to see the hurt that they thought they were not going to make it, and to see that we had opened up the church, and it gave them a sense of relief,” Robinson said. “Those who are here are really enjoying themselves. It’s going to be a different Christmas for everyone.”

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    Bleiberg reported from Dallas. Associated Press journalist Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Corey Williams in Southfield, Michigan; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Maysoon Khan in Albany, New York; Hannah Schoenbaum in Raleigh, North Carolina; Wilson Ring in Stowe, Vermont; and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

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  • Weather Updates | Blizzard warning in effect in Montana

    Weather Updates | Blizzard warning in effect in Montana

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    GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A blizzard warning was in effect until the middle of Christmas Day in western Montana along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains.

    The National Weather Service warned that the eastern slope of Glacier National Park and the adjacent foothills and plains could see up to 8 inches (20.3 centimeters) of snow and winds up to 90 mph (145 kilometers per hour). The weather service advised traveling only in emergencies.

    “Travel could be very difficult to impossible,” its warning said. “Widespread blowing snow will significantly reduce visibility, while drifting snow could lead to complete lane blockages.”

    The Weather Service also warned that travel could be treacherous further to the west in Montana and in north-central Idaho, forecasting the possibility of both snow and ice.

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    KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

    — Winter storm blamed for at least 18 deaths, large power outages

    — Blizzard conditions forecast along Rockies in western Montana

    — Millions of power customer asked to cut use to avoid blackouts

    — Tennessee Valley Authority ends rolling blackouts for 7 states

    — Mississippi’s capital sees fluctuating water pressure

    — Authorities in San Diego begin dropping migrants at bus stations

    — Western New York residents scramble from homes to warmer places

    — Unusual cold in Florida doesn’t stop Santas from surfing

    — Frigid weather delays start of Texans-Titans game in Nashville

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    PEDRO, Ohio — A utility worker has died while trying to restore power in southeastern Ohio, and people in Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin also died with much of the U.S. in the grip of a massive winter storm.

    Across the country, officials have attributed at least 18 deaths to exposure, icy car crashes and other effects of the storm.

    Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative said in a statement that apprentice line worker Blake Rodgers, 22, died in “an electrical contact incident” near Pedro, near the state’s borders with both Kentucky and West Virginia. The utility said no further details were available.

    In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear warned people Saturday to avoid Interstate 71, which links Lousville to Cincinnati, Ohio, after a series of accidents since Thursday night. Beshear said Friday that one person died in a traffic accident attributed to the weather in western Kentucky and a homeless person died in Louisville.

    In Lansing, Michigan, an 82-year-old woman died at a hospital after being found Friday morning curled up in the snow by a snowplow driver outside of the assisted living community where she lived, police reported. The temperature in the area Friday morning was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-12.2 Celsius).

    A 57-year-old woman died Friday after falling through ice on the Rock River south of Janesville, Wisconsin, just north of the Illinois linr, WMTV reported. Authorities said multiple agencies were called for a water rescue but could not see the woman through the ice.

    Officials in Buffalo reported a death in that city, along with two others in a suburb after crews couldn’t get to people’s homes when they had medical emergencies.

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    PORTLAND, Ore. — Severe weather shelters in Portland, Oregon, distributed tarps and tents to people Saturday morning as the centers closed in warming weather.

    Officials said more than 1,100 people sought warmth at five emergency severe weather shelters in Portland, including 900 at the Oregon Convention Center alone. Multnomah County spokesperson Julie Sullivan-Springhetti said at least 840 people spent the night.

    The National Weather Service forecast area temperatures remaining above freezing, above the threshold local officials use to keep the shelters open.

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    MONTPELIER, Vt. — About 260,000 electric customers across the six New England states remained without power Saturday afternoon, according to the www. poweroutages.us website.

    The most outages were reported in Maine, with about 165,000 customers in the dark.

    Some utilities warned it could be days before power is restored.

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    HARRISBURG, Pa. — Utilities across the eastern half of the U.S. have asked their customers to cut back temporarily on their power use, warning them of rolling blackouts.

    Pennsylvania-based PJM Interconnections issued such a warning for 65 million customers in 13 states, asking them to conserve electricity into Christmas morning. It said power plants are having difficulty operating in the freezing cold.

    The company providing electricity to parts of northeastern Indiana and southwestern Michigan also asked customers to reduce power use because of extraordinary demands on its system. County road crews in parts of western Michigan were experiencing white-out conditions due to the snow blowing across roadways.

    Meanwhile, Detroit-based DTE Energy said more than 23,000 lost power as the storm and freezing temperatures blew into Michigan, though it said about 80% had their power restored as of Saturday morning.

    In Wisconsin, a request to cut energy use came Friday from a company that provides natural gas throughout the state. Milwaukee-based We Energies asked customers to drop their thermostats to 60 to 62 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 to 16.7 Celsius) because a pipeline equipment failure temporarily cut the gas coming from one of its suppliers by 30%.

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    KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Authority has ended rolling blackouts that it said were necessary to meet record-setting electricity demands.

    “We recognize that these planned temporary disruptions are a challenge, but it was needed to maintain grid stability for 10 million people across seven states,” TVA said in a statement at midday Saturday. “Thank you for doing your part, conserving energy, and helping us manage this extreme weather event.”

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    JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi’s capital city of Jackson was experiencing “fluctuating water pressure” Saturday, with frigid weather hampering efforts to stabilize it.

    “Both of our water plants are functioning, so crews are now working to determine what is causing the fluctuation,” said Melissa Payne, a city spokesperson.

    Some residents in Mississippi’s capital city may temporarily experience low water pressure, officials warned.

    The potential for further disruptions to Jackson’s water system comes just months after the city of about 150,000 residents lost water in late August.

    The water system fell into crisis after flooding exacerbated longstanding problems in one of two water-treatment plants. In February 2021, tens of thousands of Jackson residents were without reliable running water for days after pipes froze.

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    SAN DIEGO — U.S. authorities facing weather-related travel and capacity issues have started dropping off migrants in San Diego at bus stations, a rarity since nongovernment organizations built a robust supply of temporary housing in 2018.

    The San Diego Rapid Response Network, a coalition that includes a Jewish Family Service shelter for 250 migrants, stopped taking people after weather snarled travel across the country.

    “Due to the extreme weather conditions impacting outbound travel, our resources and the current infrastructure have been stretched to capacity,” the group said on its website, adding that it will “resume welcoming additional asylum seekers as capacity and weather conditions improve.”

    It was unclear how many migrants had been released, and the Border Patrol didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond said Friday that he had been notified of 200 to be released in the city of San Diego and two suburbs.

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. — Deep snow, freezing temperatures and power outages in western New York sent people scrambling to get out of their houses and to churches, police stations and anywhere else with heat.

    The National Guard was working to free stranded motorists and the Erie County executive was advising people against leaving their homes. First responders and emergency equipment could not get through to the hardest-hit places, especially Buffalo, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said on social media.

    Poloncarz said ambulances needed more than three hours for a single trip to a hospital when they could get through the snow and large snow drifts, abandoned cars and downed power lines are slowing the progress of plows in clearing roads.

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the storm in the area “life-threatening” and “one of the worst in history.”

    “It’s essentially a category 3 hurricane with a bunch of snow mixed in. It’s been like that for the past 24 hours,” said Chief Timothy Carney of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office.

    As of Saturday afternoon, about 49,000 customers in New York were out of power, according to www.poweroutage.us, more than half of them in western New York.

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    COCOA BEACH, Fla. — For the surfing Santas off Florida’s central coast, the Atlantic Ocean was going to feel more like the North Pole than the Sunshine State.

    Temperatures on Saturday morning plunged to around freezing, while freeze warnings were in place for at least half of the state.

    Parts of the Florida Panhandle had wind chills that dipped into the single digits on Saturday morning, and interior parts of central Florida had temperatures plunging as low as 27 degrees Fahrenheit (-2.7 Celsius).

    “It’s a frigid start to your #ChristmasEve across the area,” the National Weather Service in Tallahassee tweeted.

    Despite the frigid temperature, the 14th annual Christmas Eve Surfing Santas festival was being held Saturday morning at Cocoa Beach on Florida’s Space Coast.

    The event has grown from 10 surfers dressed in Santa costumes when it started in 2009 to 600 participants on surfboards, boogie boards and paddle boards in years past. In anticipation of the frigid weather, a beachside restaurant planned to distribute free hot cocoa to the expected thousands of spectators, according to organizers.

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    NASHVILLE — Extreme cold and power outages in the region delayed the kickoff of the Houston Texans’ visit to the Tennessee Titans by an hour after the Nashville mayor asked the hometown team to postpone the game.

    The Titans also said the team was working to cut all nonessential power around Nissan Stadium even with gates open for fans.

    Nashville Mayor John Cooper wrote on social media asking everyone, especially nonessential businesses, to cut back their power usage.

    ———

    MONTPELIER, Vt. — The massive, wild winter storm that has gripped much of the U.S. has been blamed for deaths in Vermont, New York, Colorado, Missouri and Kansas.

    Multiple highways were closed and crashes claimed at least eight lives, officials said. Four people died in a massive pileup involving some 50 vehicles on the Ohio Turnpike. A Kansas City, Missouri, driver was killed Thursday after skidding into a creek, and three others died Wednesday in separate crashes on icy northern Kansas roads.

    A 51-year-old Vermont woman died Friday after a tree in her back yard broke off in high winds and fell on her in the town of Castleton, in west-central Vermont near New York. Police said she died at a hospital after the Friday morning accident.

    In New York, two people died in their homes in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga on Friday when emergency crews could not reach them in time to treat their medical emergencies, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Saturday.

    Police in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said they found the body of a person who appeared to be homeless during this week’s winter storm. Officers found the 42-year-old man’s body outside near the Citadel Mall at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, The Gazette reported.

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    Follow AP coverage of weather at: https://apnews.com/hub/weather

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