Death Toll In Erie County Rises As Winter Storm Cleanup Continues
By Jason Hall
December 29, 2022
The death toll in Erie County has risen to 37 as crews work to clear roads and check on residents that were unreachable during Winter Storm Elliott, officials confirmed on Wednesday (December 28) via CNN.
Erie County has reported more deaths than any other area in relation to the winter storm that hit most of the United States last week.
At least 11 other U.S. States have reported a combined 25 deaths in relation to the storm, which resulted in nearly 52 inches of snow for the Buffalo area, leaving some residents trapped at home and without heat due to power outages.
“It’s a horrible storm with too many deaths,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said during a news conference, while praising first responders, without whom “more people would have died” during the cleanup and recovery efforts.
Authorities in Erie County are now conducting wellness checks which includes an EMS task force checking locations of emergency calls for residents who were unreachable as Winter Storm Elliott continued to hit the area.
The National Guard will also check on residents at homes located in neighborhoods that lost power during the storm during the coming days.
“We are fearful that there are individuals who may have perished living alone or people who were not doing well in an establishment, especially those that still don’t have power,” Poloncarz said via CNN.
Other states with reported casualties include Oklahoma, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska and Ohio, where four people died and multiple others were injured in relation to a highway car pileup involving at least 46 vehicles over the weekend, the Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed.
President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for New York on December 26.
Temperatures plummeted and massive snow drifts hit other cities nationwide, which resulted in more than 1 million power outages, thousands of canceled flights and residents trapped inside their houses without food over the holiday weekend.