The snowfall almost two meters high in western state New York have taken local authorities on Saturday to further restrict road travel and forced airlines to cancel flights in the Buffalo area just before the busy Thanksgiving holiday week.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has called on the National Guard and that it has deployed about 70 members to help with snow removal in the hardest-hit parts of Erie County.
Bearing the brunt of the snowfall, Erie County has recorded snowfall reaching 190 centimeters in orchard parkNew York, the site of the local field of the NFL Buffalo Bills.
travel ban
The storms began blowing in from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario on Thursday to produce the region’s first major snowstorm of the season, more than a month before the onset of winter.
According to the National Weather Service, conditions could persist into Monday morning.
Three feet of snow had fallen at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, where many flights were canceled on Saturday. Buffalo, New York’s second-largest city, is back under a travel ban on Saturday morning.
“Unpredictable Storm”
“This has been a very unpredictable storm with bands of snow moving from one side to the other, from north to south,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown explained to CNN. “The snow has fallen very fast, very wet, very heavy.”
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Buffalo has seen daily record snowfall of 16 inches, doubling the one-day record set in 2014, the National Weather Service said Saturday.
On the other hand, at least two deaths were reported on Friday. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz explained in a tweet that two residents died of apparent heart attacks while shoveling snow.