New York asks to be declared a disaster area after winter storm

The governor of NYKathy Hochul, has asked the White House to declare the northwest of the state a catastrophic area after the passage of the winter storm Ellion, which has caused nearly 30 deaths.

In a press conference held in the city of Buffalo, the city hardest hit by snow and low temperatures, Hochul emphasized the importance of this measure to deal with the costs and expenses caused by the storm, which throughout the country left half hundred fatalities.

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In her speech, the governor added that although the situation is better, between 15 and 30 centimeters of snow are still expected to fall in southern Erie County, whose capital is the city of Buffalo.

“The situation is not as bad as it has been in the last couple of days, but it is still a dangerous situation to be out. stay home until tomorrow”, insisted Hochul, who described the storm What “once in a generation”.

According to local authorities, there are still 12,000 homes without power in the city, where four power substations were damaged by the storm.

The mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, assured that his house was one of those that suffered power outages and explained that he was at 4 degrees Celsius with several members of his family, including two minors.

Brown also made reference during his speech to the existence of looting in the city and the arrest of some people.

For his part, the highest authority in Erie County, Mark Poloncarz, stressed that the coroner’s office has confirmed the death of 25 people, eleven of them last night, although he warned that this number will be higher.

Members of the New York National Guard help free a car stuck in the snow in Buffalo, New York. (Joed Viera / AFP /)

According to local media, the death toll in New York stands at 27, 18 of them in Buffalo.

“We fully understand the difficulties that so many families are going through and the frustration they are facing. There are 18 dead in Buffalo: in the streets, they became disoriented and died; people who died in cars and in houses”, said Brown before stressing that it is a situation “very difficult and dangerous”.

Those responsible once again vehemently insisted that the ban on driving vehicles on the streets is still in force and explained that there are dozens of abandoned and piled up cars that are hindering the rescue efforts.

Source: Elcomercio