(MENAFN- The Peninsula) A massive snowstorm stranded motorists, cancelled flights and left at least seven people dead in the northeastern United States, five of them in the Buffalo area, officials said yesterday.
The National Weather Service said all 50 states experienced sub-freezing temperatures on Tuesday. Temperatures are expected to remain below normal from the Midwest to the east coast until the weekend.
Some areas east and southeast of Buffalo, in northern New York, could receive a year's accumulation of snow in just three days, officials said.
A state of emergency and travel bans are in effect across Buffalo's Erie County and authorities ordered people to stay off the roads to allow crews to clear as many roads as possible.
"The important thing to remember is that the storm isn't over and people should prepare for at least two more days of bad winter weather," said deputy Erie County executive Rich Tobe.
County spokesman Peter Anderson confirmed five storm-related fatalities to AFP. Three people died from apparent heart attacks while shoveling snow.
US media reported two other deaths in the states of New Hampshire and Michigan.
National Guard units were called in to assist after crews from the New York's transportation department worked through the night to rescue stranded motorists and take people to shelters.
Anderson told AFP that all the runways at Buffalo Niagara International Airport were open, but that "a lot of flights" were being cancelled because people cannot get to the airport.
Dave Zaff, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service, said that areas east and southeast of Buffalo city received upwards of five feet (1.5 meters) of snow.
"That is somewhat of an extreme event," he told AFP. "From a forecast standpoint, it will be historic.
"The impact alone when you have hundreds of thousands of people stranded, roads closed everywhere, you start to get fatalities, it becomes a very memorable event that people will never forget."
Buffalo airport typically receives about 100 inches (2.54 meters) of snow a year, but areas to the southeast could see 70 to 80 inches of snow in a three to four day period, he said.
New York-based rock band Interpol were among those trapped in the snowstorm outside Buffalo overnight, forcing them to cancel a planned concert across the Canadian border in Toronto.
"Still trapped yo! Haven't really moved in 30 hours and we've been on the bus for nearly 40 hours. Nutso. Never seen anything like it," the band said on Twitter.
A women's university basketball team was eventually rescued after spending more than 24 hours trapped in a bus on a highway.
"We're running low on water so we've been taking cups and putting snow in them and letting them melt," head coach Kendra Faustin of Niagara University had told radio station WKBW.
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