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BUFFALO, N.Y. — A ferocious lake-effect storm left the Buffalo area buried under 1.8 metres of snow Wednesday, trapping people on highways and in homes, and another storm expected to drop 60 and 90 centimetres more was on its way.
The storm was blamed for up to six western New York deaths, at least three of them from heart attacks. Erie County officials said a 46-year-old man was discovered in his car, which was in a ditch and buried in snow 24 miles east of Buffalo. It was unclear how he died.
Two other deaths were reported in New Hampshire and Michigan.
AP photo Chrissy HazardA dog looks at the snow that was blown in the back door of the home of Chrissy Hazard on Tuesday in Cheektowaga, N.Y.
Even hardened Buffalo residents were caught off-guard by the early-season storm that was expected to end by Wednesday afternoon. The storm came in so fast and furious it trapped more than 100 vehicles on a 212-kilometre stretch of the state Thruway in western New York that remained closed Wednesday.
Snow plunged off one family’s roof with such force that it blew in the back door, filling a room with snow.
“It was a huge crash. We all started running back there. We actually thought that it was the roof coming down in the house,” said Chrissy Gritzke Hazard, who was home with her husband, five children and three of her children’s friends Tuesday. “We were definitely not expecting it to be the doors blown out, the frame, everything, inside the house.”
Emergency crews were carrying gurneys through the streets in Buffalo because vehicles were unable to navigate the snow, Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield told the Buffalo News on Tuesday.
“That’s common practice right now,” he said.
The snowstorm shifted slightly into Buffalo’s northern suburbs Wednesday morning, giving the hardest hits areas a bit of a reprieve, but forecasters said a second round of lake-effect snow could deliver an additional 60 cm or more into Thursday.
With 1.2 metres of snow at the Buffalo Bills’ Ralph Wilson Stadium and more on the way, it’s unclear whether the field will be cleared in time to host the New York Jets on Sunday.
And there’s more snow in the forecast, with projections of between 30 and 60 cm to fall by Thursday night.
It usually takes three days to clear a 1-foot snowfall, Major said. The snow removal has begun, and Major hopes to round up 500 people working three shifts around the clock to clear the facility.
The team has stayed in constant contact with the NFL, which will have the final say on whether to postpone the game or have it played elsewhere.
Cold weather enveloped the entire country Tuesday, leading to record-low temperatures more familiar to January than November. Racing winds and icy roads caused accidents, school closings and delays in municipal operations from the Midwest to the South even where snowfall was low or mercifully absent.
Harry Scull Jr. / The Buffalo News / AP PhotoSnow covers a sign at Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y. on Wednesday.
“We have tried to get out of our house, and we are lucky to be able to shovel so we can open the door,” said Linda Oakley of Buffalo. “We’re just thinking that in case of an emergency we can at least get out the door. We can’t go any further.”
Justin Sorensen / The Watertown Daily Times / AP PhotoVehicles travel on outer Washington Street in Watertown, N.Y., with limited visibility.
Members of the Niagara University’s women’s basketball team were among those trapped on the Thruway. Stranded since 1 a.m. Tuesday, team members tweeted photos of a plow starting to clear the road. State troopers picked them up early Wednesday morning and brought them to a nearby police station where another bus was waiting to take them back to campus, Niagara guard Tiffany Corselli said.
“It seemed like a nightmare. It just didn’t feel like it was going to end,” Bryce Foreback, 23, of Shicora, Pennsylvania, told The Associated Press by cellphone 20 hours into his wait for help. “I haven’t slept in like 30 hours and I’m just waiting to get out of here.”
Officials with the Thruway Authority and state police did not provide information on how many people remained stranded Wednesday morning.
The lake-effect snow created a stark divide: In downtown Buffalo and north of the city, there was a mere dusting of precipitation, while in the south parts, snow was everywhere. The snow band that brought the snow was very much evident throughout the day as grey clouds persistently hovered over the southern part of the city. The band was so apparent, that the wall of snow could be seen from a mile away.
In a region accustomed to highway-choking snowstorms, this one is being called one of the worst in memory.
In New Hampshire and elsewhere, icy roads led to accidents. Lake-effect storms in Michigan produced gale-force winds and as much as 18 inches of snow, and cancelled several flights at the Grand Rapids airport.
In Atlanta, tourists Morten and Annette Larsen from Copenhagen were caught off-guard by the 30-degree weather as they took photos of a monument to the 1996 summer Olympics at Centennial Olympic Park.
“It’s as cold here as it is in Denmark right now. We didn’t expect that,” Larsen said, waving a hand over his denim jacket, buttoned
Derek Gee / The Buffalo News / AP photoJerry Delzer attempts to clear the snow in his driveway in Depew, N.Y. on Tuesday.
Harry Scull Jr. / The Buffalo News / AP PhotoPaul Lorenzo clears snow along Powers Road in Orchard Park, N.Y. on Wednesday.
Harry Scull Jr. / The Buffalo News / AP photoOmer Odovsc walks in front of his tractor trailer that got stuck on the 219 off ramp leading to Rt. 391 in Boston, N.Y., on Tuesday.
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