After a devastating winter storm left at least 27 people dead in the Buffalo region and thousands of more without power on Monday, President Joe Biden of the United States made an announcement about federal disaster aid for the state of New York.
In particular, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been given the responsibility of coordinating relief operations in the larger Buffalo metropolitan region.
Late on Monday night, President Biden offered “the whole might of the federal government” to assist with disaster relief operations in the state of New York. He discussed the situation with New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
In what New York State Governor John Hochul has described as “an epic, once-in-a-lifetime” disaster, western New York state was hit with more than 4 feet (1.2 metres) of snow.
On Monday, several hundred members of the National Guard were sent to help those working in emergency services. However, the roads are still clogged with automobiles and even ploughs that are buried beneath the snow, which makes it difficult to conduct rescue operations.
Hochul said that the severe weather will be remembered throughout history as “the Blizzard of ’22.” He also stated that it is “much too early to claim this is at its finish.”
It was deemed by the local authorities to be the deadliest snowfall to hit the Buffalo region since a blizzard in 1977 that was responsible for the deaths of over 30 people.
The fierce winter storm, which has killed as many as 60 people throughout the United States, is now wreaking havoc in other regions of the country as well.
According to the monitoring site Flightaware.com, snow, wind, and temperatures below freezing led to the cancellation of about 15,000 flights in the United States during the last several days, including more than 3,800 on Monday alone.
On the other hand, the United States Department of Transportation said late on Monday that it will launch an investigation into the “unacceptable” amount of Southwest Airlines flights that had been cancelled or delayed to examine whether or not the airline was responsible for these issues.
