The winter storm that hit the United States this year was among the deadliest to hit the nation in the previous three decades.
Nearly 50 people have died as a result of the storm, which has plunged much of the eastern United States into deep freeze.
There have been 47 fatalities nationwide as a result of the days-long storm across nine states, with at least 25 of the fatalities occurring in western New York’s Erie County.
Here are a few past blizzards and cold spells since 1993.
A Fatal cold snap in 2021
According to media accounts, a lethal cold wave that struck Canada, the US, and Mexico from February 13 to 19 paralysed areas of the south and centre of the US and claimed more than 70 lives.
Additionally, it left millions of Americans without energy and struggling.
Six people perished in Mexico, across the southern border.
SNOWZOLA in 2016
The US East Coast, particularly New York, was covered in a blizzard known as “Snowzilla” from January 22 to 24.
As it slammed much of the coast, it was held responsible for at least 33 fatalities.
It resulted in cancellation of more than 11,000 flights.
The second-highest accumulation of snowfall in Central Park, New York, since records began in 1869, was about 27 inches (67 cm). Dulles International Airport in Washington received 22 inches of snow in 24 hours.
The 2007 cold snap killed 42 people.
Midway through January, a cold snap followed by snow and ice claimed the lives of 42 people, the majority of whom perished in car accidents on icy roads in Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, New York, and Maine.
blizzard in 1996
Numerous people died, the most in car accidents, after a severe snowfall that hit the Eastern Seaboard from January 7 to 9. The media called it “Blizzard 1996.”
Days later, another storm and then floods occurred in its wake.
154 people died as a direct or indirect result of the blizzard, according to the US National Weather Service (NWS).
1993
The “Winter Storm of the Century” that hit the US East Coast on March 13–14 dropped record snowfalls and claimed 270 lives, according to the NWS.
The majority of the fatalities occurred in the Deep South states of Pennsylvania, Florida, New York, North Carolina, and even Alabama.
Additionally, three fatalities occurred in Cuba, five in international waters off Florida, and five more in Canada.
50 tornadoes, 30-foot waves off the shore, and four feet of snow were all recorded in the latter state.
A Liberian-flagged ship with 32 crew members lost its way off the east coast of Canada, and a Honduran-flagged ship with 16 crew members perished off the coast of Florida.
The freezing cold claimed the lives of many storm victims, most of them were elderly, and some even suffered heart attacks while clearing ice or snow.