The death toll from the winter storm sweeping across large parts of the continental United States has risen to at least 37. Many of those deaths were due to weather-related traffic accidents or from the cold, while some were the result of first responders not being able to treat medical conditions quickly enough because of the hazardous weather conditions. The storm also caused hundreds of thousands to lose power in more than a dozen states and delayed and canceled thousands of flights
Buffalo, N.Y., has been one of the hardest-hit location in the United States, with at least 12 people confirmed dead amid the storm. The National Weather Service said that 43 inches of snow had fallen at Buffalo’s airport as of 7 a.m. Sunday. The storm brought hurricane-force winds and created whiteout conditions as it battered the area. A bomb cyclone, which happens when atmospheric pressure drops sharply in a strong storm, developed over the Great Lakes and sent temperatures well below freezing throughout much of the country.
CNN also reported that eight people died from weather-related car crashes in Ohio, including four who were killed in a 46-car pileup on the Ohio Turnpike on Saturday. Police in Colorado Springs, Colo., reported that two people have died from the cold since Thursday, and three people died in weather-related traffic accidents in Kansas, three died in Kentucky and Missouri, and Tennessee and Wisconsin have each reported one traffic-related death.
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