According to reports, a 22-year-old woman died after being trapped in her car for 18 hours during a deadly blizzard in Buffalo, New York.
Anndel Taylor was driving home from work on Friday when she became stranded due to the heavy snowfall, according to her family, who spoke to their local ABC-affiliated news outlet WSOC in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The storm was dubbed the “blizzard of the century” by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and at least 27 people had died in Buffalo as of Monday afternoon, according to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
Buffalo, which is no stranger to severe winter weather, is at the epicentre of the crisis, buried under massive amounts of snow. The county’s death toll has risen to at least 34, surpassing the figure from Buffalo’s infamous blizzard of 1977, when nearly 30 people died.
With the majority of the city still “impassable,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has joined New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in advising residents to shelter in place. “Certainly, it is the blizzard of the century,” Hochul said Monday, adding that it was too early to say this is over.
Authorities in New York state described ferocious conditions, particularly in Buffalo, with hours-long whiteouts, bodies discovered in vehicles and under snow banks, and emergency personnel going “car to car” looking for survivors. Taylor’s family said she texted their group chat about the snow and sent a video of her car windows that appeared to be covered in snow, according to WSOC.
They also claimed that she dialed 911 but that emergency services were unable to reach her in time. Taylor’s mother stated that she intended to sleep in her car during the storm and then walk home.
Everyone who tried to get to her got stuck, including the fire department and the police “Taylor’s sister, Tomeshia Brown, told the outlet. “Why weren’t they wearing chains on their tyres? This is a state known for its snow.”
Taylor was discovered dead inside her car the following day, and her family believes she was trapped for 18 hours. Officials have not released a cause of death, but her mother believes she died of carbon monoxide poisoning rather than hypothermia.
The car was still running, and the snow was still falling, so it blocked the pipes, the exhaust pipe, her mother explained to WSOC. Then, after the car cut off, she froze up. Taylor’s other sister, Shawnequa Brown, said there had been “a lot of crying” in the family and that there were still gifts for her under their Christmas tree.
A GoFundMe page set up by the family to cover funeral expenses has raised more than $9,600 at the time of this article.
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