Media reports say the death toll from the historic blizzard across the United States climbed to more than 60 on Tuesday.
Citing U.S. officials, NBC News reports that the death toll from the historic blizzard across the U.S. climbed to 65 on Tuesday as record snowfall blocked roads, hindering rescue operations.
Confirming seven additional deaths in Buffalo, Mayor Byron Brown reportedly said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that the storm was "probably worse than anything that this city has seen in over 50 years."
NBC News notes that at a Zoom news conference later Tuesday, Brown said another body had been recovered. By the end of the afternoon, Erie County's medical examiner had reportedly confirmed three additional deaths, raising the storm-related death toll to 32 for the county, which recorded the vast majority of New York's 34 deaths.
More than 4,000 people in the area remain without power after the storm, which Mr. Brown said was "probably" the worst of most residents' lifetimes. At the peak of the storm, about 20,000 people were without power.
The BBC says the winter storm has forced the cancellation of thousands of flights, including about 4,800 on Tuesday morning alone. Thousands of passengers have been left stranded at airports across the country.
On Monday, US President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration allowing federal support for New York State. "My heart is with those who lost loved ones this holiday weekend," he tweeted, according to the BBC.
CNN says the deadly storm comes just one month after the region was slammed with a historic snowstorm. The storm has reportedly drawn widespread comparisons to Buffalo’s famous blizzard of 1977. But the current storm’s ferocity was worse than the blizzard of ’77.” The death toll in that storm was 23 people, 22 of whom died in Erie County.
