OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 4:04 PM PT – Tuesday, December 27, 2022
As “a once in a lifetime storm” continues to wreak havoc across the United States, looters had only unleashed more chaos in Buffalo, New York.
On Tuesday, Mayor Byron Brown (D-N.Y.) said that the death toll in the city has now risen to at least 28 people. Rescue and recovery efforts across Buffalo, New York continue as a historic blizzard rage across the U.S.
More than two dozen people in the city have died amid the winter storm with scores of deaths reported in other parts of the country as several people remain trapped in their homes and cars. Crews are still working to open the streets and restore power. Buffalo mayor Byron Brown commented on the effects of the storm.
“We know that there are some individuals in our community that have been without power for four days. So, we are working aggressively with national grid, supporting their needs to get power restored,” Brown said.
According to City Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia, there were “few” arrests made by Buffalo police. Local law enforcement’s ability to combat crime has been hampered too by the weather.
“We’ve been able to throughout the storm transitions our patrol officers to get back [to] their patrol efforts while we have our search and rescue recovery teams that are going out and doing the very difficult work of recovering bodies,” Gramaglia said.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz took to his social media to tweet.
Reports say some businesses have had their windows smashed in and merchandise damaged or stolen. Local officials are astounded that people would see the storms chaos as a window of opportunity.
Mayor Brown spoke to the reporters on Monday.
“I don’t know how these people can live with themselves, how they can look at themselves in the mirror,” Brown said. “They are the ‘lowest of the low’.”
Byron also informed that the Buffalo police have created an anti-looting detail and their goal is to find as many people who have been engaged in the crime as possible.
Officials say that Buffalo will remain under a travel ban on Tuesday and 100 military police and state troopers will work to enforce the ban and assist with traffic control.
According to a National Weather Service advisory, snowfall is anticipated to decrease and temperatures to likely rise during the next days.
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