A major winter storm that brought blizzard conditions to several states across the U.S. knocked out power to more than 1 million customers and snarled holiday travel has killed dozens of people, and that number is expected to climb.
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The powerful storm system swept across the country last week and brought dangerous conditions to the West, Plains and Midwest before the blizzard rapidly intensified into a bomb cyclone as it walloped the Great Lakes and Northeast with snow, damaging winds and frigid temperatures.
The storm’s central pressure dropped by 30 millibars in the 24 hours, officially surpassing the criteria for bombogenesis, which is a 24-millibar drop in 24 hours.
Erie County in western New York was particularly hard hit by the storm, and at least 13 people have died as a result.
Four people were found dead outside, two people were found dead in cars, three people suffered cardiac events while outside shoveling snow, one person was found dead inside a building, and three deaths were the result of a delayed EMS response because roads were impassable, according to the Erie County Department of Health.
“Sadly, we’re getting reports of additional deaths that still need to be confirmed,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said in a tweet on Sunday.
Whiteout conditions were reported across Ohio as the powerful storm moved across the country.
The dangerous conditions led to several crashes across the state, including a deadly 50-car pileup on the Ohio Turnpike.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, four people were killed in the crash that included at least 15 commercial vehicles.
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Other crashes that occurred as a result of the powerful winter storm have also turned deadly.
In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed at least three deaths due to crashes when snow and ice covered roads across the state.
According to a report from FOX4KC in Kansas City, Missouri, one person was killed when their car slid off the road and crashed into a creek.
FOX4KC reports the driver was possibly trying to make a turn when they lost control, traveled off the road, went down an embankment, over a cement retaining wall, and landed upside down in the creek.
In Texas, FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth said one man who was found unresponsive after being exposed to the sub-freezing temperatures died after being rushed to a local hospital in Fort Worth.
According to FOX 4, first responders said they could not get the unidentified man’s core body temperature above 80 degrees.
In Oregon, one person was killed in a multi-vehicle crash in Multnomah County, according to the sheriff’s office.
Officials said deputies were responding to a crash on Interstate 84 near Rooster Rock State Park when they were informed of another crash in the same location. When they arrived at the scene, deputies said they found a semi-truck collided with an SUV.
“Preliminary findings suggest the person associated with the SUV was standing outside their vehicle when a semi-truck collided with them and the SUV,” the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.