BUFFALO, N.Y. — The death toll from the massive winter storm that hit Western New York over the holiday weekend has been revised with new information.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Thursday that the number of storm-related deaths now stands at 39 for the entire county. Of those deaths, 31 happened in the city of Buffalo with seven in the suburbs. The county executive says one individual died in an unknown location.
Three deaths were the result of delayed EMS response due to the storm, 17 were found outside, 4 were discovered in cars, 4 were the result of snowblowing or snow shoveling, and 11 were found intheir homes, Poloncarz said.
Niagara County also reported one death due to the storm.
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.
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 as the region prepares for more snow
- The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office says there are at least 37 deaths in Erie County
- The storm was also blamed for at least another two dozen reported deaths in other parts of the country
- Relief is coming later this week, as forecasts call for temperatures to slowly rise, per the National Weather Service
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.
“Significant progress has been made” on snow removal, he 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.
With the death toll already surpassing that of the area’s notorious Blizzard of 1977, local officials faced questions about the response to last week’s storm. They insisted that they prepared but that 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, a Democrat, 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, a Democrat, said the state was ready to deploy nearly 800,000 sandbags and more than 300 pumps and generators for flooding response efforts if needed.
