16 killed, more than 3 lakh homes face blackout as winter storm sweeps across USA

At least 16 people were killed and more than 315,000 homes and businesses in the USA were without power on Christmas Eve as the devastating Arctic blast and winter storm swept a large swathe of the country tearing down power lines and uprooting trees, according to a CNN report.

As bone-chilling air continues to grip the US this holiday weekend, the storm still is pummeling parts of the Upper Midwest and interior Northeast with heavy snow and blizzard conditions, the report said.

In New York’s Buffalo area particularly, heavy snow  and strong winds  at times made visibility close to zero Friday into Saturday. More than a foot more could fall Saturday, with winds gusting up to 65 mph and making  temperatures plunge well below zero.

In Erie County, which includes Buffalo, blizzard conditions are expected to continue through at least Sunday morning, County Executive Mark Poloncarz told reporters Saturday. The winter storm could continue for at least the next 36 hours, with the blizzard warning in effect until 7 a.m. Christmas morning, Poloncarz said.

“This is still a life-threatening situation,” he said.

The county’s Deputy Commissioner of Disaster Preparedness and Homeland Security, Gregory Butcher, said the storm will be significant “for days to come.”

Several motorists were reported to be stranded in their vehicles at night.

“Don’t leave your home,” Poloncarz said on CNN Saturday to anyone thinking about traveling to or within the area.

National Guard troops were arriving Saturday to “rescue people that are stuck in vehicles,” and to give rides to medical workers so they could relieve colleagues who’d been working at hospitals for more than a day, Poloncarz said.

From the Plains and the Midwest to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and even in parts of the Southeast, wind chills after the sun rose Saturday morning were below zero, according to the National Weather Service.