‘Please, I’m begging, stay home’: US snow storm deaths rise – as some die shovelling snow
Military police are going to guard major intersections in the US city of Buffalo after residents continued to drive through deep snow despite local officials begging them not to.
At least 64 people have now died in the bomb cyclone – the deadliest US storm for at least two generations.
A further two inches of snow is predicted to fall by the end of Tuesday in Erie County, which includes Buffalo and its 275,000 residents.
“Please, please, do not drive in the city of Buffalo, unless you are emergency personnel,” County Executive Mark Poloncarz said during a news conference.
“Too many people are ignoring the ban,” he added, describing the storm as “the worst probably in our lifetime”.
Mr Poloncarz told reporters: “I have been advised that 100 military police are being brought in as well as additional troops from the New York State Police Department.”
They will be situated at entrances to the city and at major intersections, stopping drivers from getting through.
“Please, I’m begging, stay home,” Mr Poloncarz added, saying that ensuring access for emergency response vehicles was a major priority.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown’s office announced seven additional storm-related deaths on Tuesday, bringing the city’s total to 27. At least another seven people perished in the suburbs.
Bodies have been found in cars and homes – and some people have died while shovelling snow.
A further four people died in Canada after a bus rolled over on icy roads in British Columbia.
Some people have died because ambulances could not reach them in time to respond to medical emergencies.
Buffalo has been heavily hit by the storm
A previous blizzard, in 1977, killed as many as 29 people in the region.
Tuesday’s snow may be the last, National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Oravec said.
“It’ll be warming up soon. By Thursday the high will be 8C. By Saturday it’ll be 12C.”
President Joe Biden has authorised federal support for New York state, where tens of thousands of people have been left without power.
Some people have been stranded in their cars for more than two days, with emergency services struggling to reach them, Mr Poloncarz said.
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Buffalo Bills players and staff returned to Buffalo to find their vehicles buried in deep snow following a blizzard.
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New York Governor Kathy Hochul has called the storm “one for the ages”.
It and another big snowstorm just over a month ago have brought almost as much snow as the area would expect during the whole winter, she added.
At one point, Buffalo was getting between two and three inches of snow an hour.
On Monday, almost 4,000 flights were cancelled, according to the tracking site FlightAware, aggravated by cancellations at Southwest Airlines, 70% of whose flights were not running as scheduled.
Tens of thousands of homes and businesses have been left without power.
Jim Dale, senior meteorologist at British Weather Services, told Sky News: “I was going to say this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I think we’re probably going to see these kinds of events a little bit more than that.
“In this instance, this is all to do with the dislocation of the Arctic polar vortex. So that means basically polar air channelling southwards.
“We saw it coming before it arrived. But the actual transition in terms of going from what you might call a mild situation to an absolute freeze happened in some states within an hour so you went down from say 10 to 15 degrees down to -20 very quickly.”
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Read more from Sky News:
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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