On Thursday, December 5th, a snowstorm brought heavier snowfall to the Great Lakes region of the United States. Officials reported that two people in upstate New York died of heart attacks after shoveling snow.
According to the Associated Press, the tragedy unfolded on Wednesday in Erie County, western New York, where snow has been falling continuously since the end of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
With several inches of overnight and morning snowfall, many schools in Buffalo and surrounding towns were closed on Thursday, leading to traffic congestion on the roads due to accidents.
In Ohio, a travel ban was imposed on Thursday in the northeastern part of the state along Lake Erie. The region had already received up to 5 feet of snow from a storm the previous week, with more snow expected to come.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency in four counties based on the National Weather Service’s forecast, warning that the “lake-effect snow” could bring another foot of snow before Friday.
Parts of Pennsylvania along the lake were under a blizzard warning until early Saturday morning, with speed limits on highways being enforced. Surrounding counties also issued warnings for the lake-effect snow.
In addition, power outages began to increase on Thursday. According to data from the Poweroutage website tracking outages nationwide, over 14,000 customers in Pennsylvania were without power on Thursday morning. As the storm moved into the New England region, nearly 11,000 customers lost power in Connecticut. In Virginia further south, more than 12,000 customers were left without power due to strong winds.