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Downtown Buffalo after the storm: Worst weather-related disasters in the city's history
Photo: Uncredited / dpa
The death toll from snowstorm Elliott has risen to 27 in the Buffalo area, west of New York, officials said.
The region is being hit by one of the worst weather-related disasters in its history.
Much of the rest of the United States is also suffering from severe winter conditions.
The Buffalo-area dead were found in their cars, homes, and in snowdrifts.
Some died shoveling snow.
The storm, which hit large parts of the country, is now responsible for at least 49 deaths nationwide.
The rescue and salvage work continues.
Another 10 cm of snow to be expected
Erie County Official Mark Poloncarz called the blizzard the worst storm they've ever experienced and warned there could be more deaths.
Some people, Poloncarz said, were stuck in their cars for more than two days.
“It's just a terrible situation, but we can see something of a light at the end of the tunnel.
But that's not the end,' he said.
The National Weather Service warned that up to 10 inches of snow could still fall in some areas through Tuesday.
The blizzard that raged through western New York on Friday and Saturday stranded motorists, crippled power supplies and prevented emergency responders from reaching residents in their freezing homes and stuck cars.
Power outages and burst water pipes
The extreme weather conditions ranged from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande on the border with Mexico.
A winter weather forecast or warning was issued for about 60 percent of the US population, and temperatures dropped drastically below normal from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians.
The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle.
The mid-Atlantic grid operator called on its 65 million consumers to save energy during the blackout on Saturday.
Deaths related to the storm were reported across the country, including six fatalities in motorists in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky, and a woman who fell through the ice of a Wisconsin river.
In Jackson, Mississippi, authorities announced on Christmas Day that residents had to boil their drinking water after water mains burst in the freezing temperatures.
czl/dpa
