BUFFALO, N.Y. — Two more deaths have been attributed to last month’s winter storm that hit Western New York, bringing the total number of deaths to 44 across the region.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz announced Friday that the Erie County Department of Health’s medical examiner confirmed a woman was found in a tent in Buffalo and a 3-year-old girl died of her injuries days after drowning at a hotel pool. He says her family stayed at the hotel after losing power.
Of the deaths confirmed so far, 43 happened in Erie County, with one fatality in Niagara County.
What You Need To Know
- The death toll from a pre-Christmas blizzard that paralyzed the Buffalo, N.Y., area and much of the country continues to rise
- The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office says there are at least 43 deaths in Erie County
- The storm was also blamed for at least another two dozen reported deaths in other parts of the country
With the death toll already surpassing that of the area’s notorious Blizzard of 1977, local officials faced questions about the response to the 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,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said last Wednesday.
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.
