At least 28 people have died as of Tuesday morning (27) as a result of the storm that hit Erie County, New York, where the city of Buffalo was buried under up to 50.3 inches of snow. At least 24 other people in 10 states across the United States have died due to the weather conditions.
The storm in Buffalo was considered more fierce than the blizzard of 1977, which left 23 dead. Snow fell for 37.5 consecutive hours.
Even emergency and rescue vehicles got stuck in the snow. The second most populous city in the state became impassable in most areas. Many vehicles were abandoned in the middle of highways.
Many families were also left without electricity, and those whose heating is electric had to endure the cold. In many homes, the indoor temperature dropped to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Arctic mass also disrupted the year-end travel plans of many people across the country. Between Wednesday and Saturday, airlines canceled more than 12,000 flights, about 14% of their schedule.
Although the situation began to improve on Sunday, flight cancellations in various parts of the country remained.
Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights on Tuesday and Wednesday as it struggles to recover from the storm that affected the major airports where it operates.
On Tuesday (27), more than 2,900 flights in the United States were canceled and over 2,400 others were delayed, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking service. Most of the cancellations – more than 2,500 of them – came from Southwest, which had already canceled more than 60% of its flights that day.
The airline had canceled about 61% of its flights on Wednesday and 14% of its flights on Thursday, according to FlightAware.