IN THE UNITED STATES THE "BLIZZARD" OF THE CENTURY KILLS AT LEAST FIFTY PEOPLE

"It's far too early to say it's over," warned New York Governor Kathy Hochul, adding that up to 30 cm of snow was still expected to fall.

"It's clearly the blizzard of the century," she added during a press conference from the city of Buffalo.

Even if the intensity of the storm is no longer that of recent days, it is "still dangerous to be outside", she warned.

A Christmas weekend under meters of snow, experiencing polar temperatures since last week.

The death toll in Erie County, which includes Buffalo, was already 13 as of Sunday evening, but local services have since confirmed the deaths of 14 more people 'bringing the total blizzard fatalities to 27,' it said on Monday. morning Mark Poloncarz, responsible for this county.

Some people have been found dead in their cars or outside, and others have died of cardiac arrest while trying to clear snow, while temperatures are still freezing, he said. Mark Poloncarz said he expected more victims to be found over time.

The total of deaths confirmed by authorities across 9 US states is at least 49 dead. In Ohio, road accidents related to these bad weather killed nine people, confirmed Highway Patrol.

" Heartbreaking "

Buffalo is still largely blocked, due to the impressive amounts of snowfall. Footage from downtown showed cars across the road, covered in snow.

“Please, unless you are part of the emergency services, do not drive,” asked Mark Poloncarz.

“Conditions are bad.”

A travel ban was still in effect Monday in the west of the county, but it was defied by some residents, he said.

"What we're doing today is getting people to doctors, nurses and hospitals," county sheriff John Garcia told CNN on Monday morning.

"The roads are finally starting to be passable because the winds have died down."

During the height of the storm, rescuers were no longer able to reach people in distress, for example those stranded in their car or at home without electricity.

"It's heartbreaking to have calls from families with kids saying they're frozen," said John Garcia. Electricity has been restored to more than 13,000 homes in the past 24 hours, Mark Poloncarz said Monday morning, but more than 12,000 are still without power. Some will not be able to be connected to the network before Tuesday, he warned.

3,800 flights canceled on Monday

Since Wednesday evening, the United States has been hit by this storm of rare intensity, whose icy winds have caused heavy snowfall, especially in the Great Lakes region.

Tens of millions of Americans saw their Christmas weekend turned upside down by massive power outages, impassable roads and thousands of canceled flights, causing chaos at airports. On Monday, nearly 3,800 flights were still canceled in the United States, according to the tracking site Flightaware.com.

Conditions are expected to improve only gradually as the week progresses.

The weather "will continue to cause hazardous travel conditions locally for the next two days," the US Weather Service (NWS) said in its latest national bulletin.

“Most of the eastern United States will remain in freezing conditions through the day Monday, before a more moderate trend sets in from Tuesday,” he added.