It Was Just a Crying Day’: Families Mourn Those Killed in the Storm

[IceWizard]

It Was Just a Crying Day’:
Families Mourn Those Killed in the Storm

Western New York is still digging out from a punishing
holiday blizzard that has taken nearly 30 lives.






By Lola Fadulu, Hurubie Meko and Sarah Maslin Nir
Dec. 27, 2022

Trapped in her car as a blinding snowstorm engulfed Buffalo, Anndel Nicole Taylor, 22,
texted her family that she was scared. She had been calling emergency services for hours
on Friday but kept being put on hold.

At midnight, with four feet of snow piling up on the ground and her car still stuck,
she told her family she was going to try to get some sleep.

“That was the last time we spoke to her,” said her older sister, Shawnequa Renee Brown,
35, who lives in Charlotte, N.C.

Ms. Taylor was found dead in her car on Christmas Eve.

A certified nursing assistant, Ms. Taylor had moved from Charlotte to Buffalo about two
years ago, to care for their ailing father. On Christmas Day, the family gathered in North Carolina,
mourning at what should have been a celebration. Ms. Taylor’s presents were under the tree,
still wrapped.

“It was just a crying day,” Ms. Brown said. “All day long, we just cried.”

In western New York, the death toll from the punishing winter storm continued to climb four days
after the snow began on Friday; nearly 30 people were reported dead after the mayor of Buffalo
reported eight more fatalities on Tuesday morning.

Even as the rescue effort continued, officials and emergency workers were reeling from what they
said was the extraordinary challenge of saving people in this blizzard, which set records for its
duration — 36 straight hours — and 79-mile-an-hour winds.

The victims were a medical professional trying to get home for Christmas, a soon-to-be father
stepping out for milk. One man, found dead in a snowbank, died on his 56th birthday.

“They have been found a number of different ways,” said Mike DeGeorge, the spokesman for the
Buffalo mayor’s office. “They have been found in stranded vehicles, they have been found on sidewalks,
near street corners, some have been found in snowbanks. Some have been found because some
have been without power since the storm began.”



The blizzard set records for its duration — 36 straight hours — and 79-mile-an-hour winds.



The losses were felt across the region, but nowhere more than in Buffalo, where empty places sat
at Christmas dinner and presents remained under trees, never to be opened.

In Charlotte, Ms. Taylor’s sister was making funeral plans, she said, and taking refuge in her favorite
memories of Ms. Taylor, including the way her younger sister would belt out the chorus to her favorite
song, “Bless-Sin” by Juiicy 2xs, and how easily she made friends.

“She’ll meet you one time and now y’all friends forever,” Ms. Brown said.
“She was the strong one in the family.”

Four days after the storm began, the city was still working through roughly 1,000 unanswered
emergency calls — many of which were likely duplicates and calls from stranded motorists — placed
since Friday morning, Joseph Gramaglia, the Buffalo police commissioner,
said in a news briefing on Tuesday.

As the storm first barreled in on Dec. 23, the Buffalo Police Department was able to rescue about
65 people, the commissioner said, “and then the weather just became too bad.”

On social media, some residents have criticized the storm response as sluggish, particularly taking
umbrage at officials who, they felt, suggested that those who became trapped or died while awaiting
rescue that never came, had themselves in part to blame.

Mayor Byron W. Brown disputed that characterization.

“We are certainly not blaming individuals who were driving,” he said, adding, “but the act of driving
during a blizzard during zero visibility and whiteout conditions, as you can surmise, made the
emergency response much more difficult and much more complicated.”

State officials stressed how extraordinarily challenging the multiday storm had been, even with
hundreds of personnel and rescue equipment deployed to the region in advance. At times, blizzard
conditions ground rescue efforts from hundreds of emergency workers to a total standstill.

“As first responders, it is in their bones to put themselves in harm’s way to rescue people,”
Jackie Bray, the state commissioner of homeland security and emergency services, said in an
interview. “These conditions were so bad that two-thirds of the rescue missions sent out during
the height of the storm had to get rescued themselves.”

Even as residents were warned to stay home, Abdul Sharifu was among those who took a chance.

On Saturday, with his pregnant wife due to give birth next week, Mr. Sharifu, 26, ventured out in
his car for groceries, despite her warning him not to, according to a friend, Enock Rushikana.

On Monday, the body of Mr. Sharifu, a Congolese refugee who fled war in 2017 and resettled in
Buffalo, was identified by a friend at the John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital. His car had been
found on Saturday, abandoned on the corner of Main and Utica Streets; his friends believe he
had become stuck and tried to walk home.



Abdul Sharifu

He had been known by the nickname “911,” for his giving nature and propensity to drop
everything to help others in need in his tight-knit community of people who identify as members
of the tribal Bafuliru group, Mr. Rushikana said.

He had been overjoyed about becoming a father to a son.

“It’s his first child,” said Mr. Rushikana, who considered Mr. Sharifu a nephew. “He was very excited.”

On Saturday, Christmas Eve, disturbing video of a body apparently frozen in a snowbank began
circulating. It appeared to be William Clay, who went by Romello, according to a Go-Fund-Me for
funeral expenses created by his sister, Sophia Clay.
On that day, she wrote, he would have turned 56.

A part-time home health aide and part-time housekeeper at a hotel, Monique Alexander, 52,
was also found partly buried in the snow on Delaware Avenue that day, according to her
daughter, Casey Maccarone.

“She was the most outgoing person I knew,” Ms. Maccarone said.
“She was loyal to everyone she knew.”

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office announced the identity of another victim:
Timothy M. Murphy, 27, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning on Christmas Day after heavy
snow choked the external furnace of his residence in Lockport.

Cleanup efforts continued on Tuesday in Buffalo, a city of 275,000 along Lake Erie.
About 4,000 people still remained without power, according to the mayor’s office, and the community
feared that the death toll would rise as emergency workers reached more stranded vehicles and
powerless homes.

An additional three to five inches of snow was expected in the region,
according to the National Weather Service.

There were reports of some incidents of looting. Carl Anderson Jr., 59, the owner of
Louie’s Texas Red Hots restaurant on Bailey Avenue, said he spent Christmas Day stuck at home,
watching live security footage from his restaurant as four men smashed the door and dragged
a cash register and safe into the snow. Helpless to stop them, he called the police five times,
he said, but they did not go to the scene. “This is killing me financially,” he said.

Mr. Anderson shared the video with The Times.

“We have already made a number of arrests, and we will be focusing very aggressively on following
on the crime of looting during these blizzard conditions,” Mayor Brown said at a news conference.

The travel ban that was instated when the blizzard began remained in place for Buffalo on Tuesday,
though it was reduced to an advisory in the nearby community of Cheektowaga, Mark Poloncarz,
the Erie County executive, announced.

The volume of snow, he wrote on Twitter, was impossible to plow. It had to be scooped up by
dump trucks and carted away. The Buffalo Niagara International Airport and all county offices in
Erie County remained closed on Tuesday. The airport will reopen late Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday Gov. Kathy Hochul announced more support for people in western New York,
including waiving A.T.M. fees and increasing cash withdrawal limits, as well as measures
to expedite insurance claims.






The amount of snow in Buffalo, an official said, was impossible to merely plow.
It had to also be scooped up and carted away.



Amid the chaos of the storm, there were also moments of astounding grace.

On Christmas Eve, Sha’Kyra Aughtry found an older man crying and disoriented in the snow,
according to videos Ms. Aughtry posted on Facebook. Her partner, whom she identified only as
Trent, carried him into their home. They called emergency services, she said, but no help came.

The man — whom a friend identified as Joe White, 64, an intellectually disabled man who worked
for 40 years at the North Park movie theater, in a Go-Fund-Me account set up for his
medical care — had become lost in the storm.

“When I found him he had bags frozen to his hands, I had to cut the bags off his hands because
his hands had ice bricks.” Ms. Aughtry is seen on video telling rescuers who arrived on Christmas
after she posted on Facebook desperately seeking medical attention for the man.

“I had to cut off his socks, I washed him up and fed him,” she added. The rescuers plowed her
driveway and took Mr. White, who had severe frostbite, to the hospital.

She turned to him. “Come on, Joey, don’t cry. I’m here,” she said. “I’m your friend forever.”

On Sunday the marquee of North Side was lit up.

“Thank You Sha’Kyra and Trent,” it read. “Get Well Soon Joe.”

[Charon]

It was a horrible unforgiving storm. Not really promoted with a travel ban. News would say it may impact your holiday travel or visits

May God be holding all the poor, precious people, in His Arms, whom passed during those 2 days.

So sad.

[Charon]

Buffalo area death toll rises to 34, National Guard to go door to door looking for bodies
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

[Charon]

more tears...

Queens dad, an MTA bus driver, told young sons to buckle their seat belts before running down his wife with SUV then stabbing her: prosecutors
WEDNESDAY, DEC 28


Deranged Queens dad, Stephen Giraldo, ordered his three young sons to buckle their seat belts before running down his wife as their boys watched in horror from inside his SUV, prosecutors said Wednesday.
He told 911 “I think I killed my wife,” prosecutors said. His wife Sophia Giraldo, 41, had a podcast where she discussed marriage issues with her estranged husband. Lord, be with those children I pray.

[IceWizard]

More than 70 killed when blizzard,
bomb cyclone wreak havoc across US


The powerful storm system swept across the country last week and
brought dangerous conditions to the West, Plains and Midwest.
The blizzard rapidly intensified into a bomb cyclone as it walloped the
Great Lakes and Northeast with snow, damaging winds
and frigid temperatures.





Drone footage shows cars and homes blanketed by heavy snow
in Buffalo, New York.
(Credit: Earl Reynolds via Storyful)



A major winter storm that brought blizzard conditions to several states across the U.S. has killed
dozens of people, and the death toll is expected to climb.

Just before the holiday, the storm knocked out power to more than 1 million customers and snarled
holiday travel. It brought dangerous conditions to the West, Plains and Midwest. The blizzard rapidly
intensified into a bomb cyclone as it walloped the Great Lakes and Northeast with snow,
damaging winds and frigid temperatures.




Snow blows across a road causing whiteout conditions during a winter snow storm affecting
most of the USA, in Flint, MI on December 23, 2022.
(Photo by Katie McTiernan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
(Katie McTiernan/Anadolu Agency)




A family huddled together, moves quickly to their car, to get out of the frigid cold from a
massive winter storm affecting most of the USA., in Flint, MI on December 23, 2022.
(Photo by Katie McTiernan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)




Ice covers Hoaks restaurant along the Lake Erie shoreline on December 24, 2022 in
Hamburg, New York. The Buffalo suburb and surrounding area was hit hard by the
winter storm Elliott with wind gusts over 70 miles per hour battering homes and
businesses through out the holiday weekend.
(Photo by John Normile/Getty Images)





Ice adorns a fountain in Charleston, South Carolina, on December 24, 2022, where temperatures
are forecast to reach a high of 32F (0C). - The  winter storm that pummelled the US with blinding
snow and powerful Arctic winds left 1.7 million customers without power on December 24 as
thousands of cancelled flights stranded travelers.
(Photo by PEDRO UGARTE/AFP via Getty Images)





Ice and snow cover an abandoned vehicle along the Lake Erie shoreline on December 24, 2022 in
Hamburg, New York.





Snow covers a vehicle on December 24, 2022 in Hamburg, New York






One person was killed and several injured in northern Ohio
during a crash involving 50 vehicles.
(Mike Waldron)






Northern Ohio during a crash involving 50 vehicles.






The Ohio State Highway Patrol said four people were killed in a massive crash
on the Ohio Turnpike on Friday, December 23, 2022.


In a news release on Monday, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said it had responded to
1,300 crashes since last Thursday, and 13 people in total were killed.

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 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.


More storm-related deaths reported in other states


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 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.

At least two people were killed in South Carolina as a result of the powerful storm, according to
the Anderson County Coroner's Office. One man died on Christmas Eve when the power was knocked
out at his home. Officials say the man was oxygen dependent and used an oxygen machine that
relied on electricity. Officials said that he was apparently trying to prepare his portable oxygen device
when he collapsed and died. Another man died when officials say he went outside in cold temperatures
to try and repair a broken water pipe. The coroner's office said the victim was outside working to
make repairs and went back inside to change clothes. He then went back outside to continue working
on the pipe. He was found dead the following day, wet and exposed to cold temperatures.

The Colorado Springs Police Department said a total of four people died during the period between
December 22-23. Two victims were located on Dec. 22, and the other two were found on Dec. 23.

In Tennessee, the Tennessee Department of Health confirmed seven storm-related deaths but
provided no additional information about what happened.

Three other storm-related deaths were also reported in Oklahoma.



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.