NEW YORK | "It's not the Christmas we wanted": a winter storm, carrying icy winds and sweeping the central and eastern United States for days, has killed more than twenty people and left tens of thousands of Americans without power on Christmas Day.

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Erie County, located in New York State, was particularly hard hit.

At least seven people died there because of the storm, said Mark Poloncarz, county official, at a press conference on Sunday morning. Some were found in cars and others on the street in the middle of the snow. "It's horrible, it's a major disaster," he said.

Since Wednesday evening, the United States has been hit by this storm of rare intensity, whose polar winds have caused heavy snowfall, especially in the Great Lakes region.

US authorities have confirmed at least 22 extreme weather-related deaths across eight states. Some of these deaths occurred on the roads, which have become very dangerous due to icy conditions and a lack of visibility.

According to Mark Poloncarz, other deaths could be counted in Erie County, which includes the city of Buffalo, located on the border with Canada.

“There are people stuck in their cars for more than two days and others in homes with freezing temperatures,” he warned. "It's not the Christmas we wanted."

Between 30 and 60 cm of snow were still expected to fall overnight, according to the latest bulletin from the US Weather Service (NWS).

200,000 homes without power

A travel ban was issued in this region on Friday, but hundreds of people still found themselves stranded in their vehicles.

Governor Kathy Hochul deployed the National Guard to rescue them, with local emergency services virtually paralyzed.

Electricity will also not be fully restored in the city of Buffalo before Monday, warned Mark Poloncarz, calling on residents not to leave their homes, the roads remaining impassable.

"The winds are so strong" that the snow forms like "sand dunes", it's "crazy", described Saturday to AFP Ali Lawson, 34, who has lived in Buffalo for eight years.

"Last night we couldn't see past our porch," and the plows can't even get out to clear the roads, she said.

In total, more than 200,000 homes were without power Sunday morning on the East Coast, according to the Poweroutage.us site, notably in Maine and New York State.

Risk of hypothermia

On Friday, the wind felt the temperature as low as -46°C in parts of South Dakota, according to the NWS, which however announced that temperatures should return "to seasonal normals by the middle of next week".

Air traffic was gradually improving with nearly 1,500 flights canceled on Sunday, against more than 3,400 the day before, according to the monitoring site Flightaware.com.

“The most extreme disruptions are behind us,” US Transportation Minister Pete Buttigieg said on Twitter on Saturday.

A bit everywhere in American cities, such as Denver or Chicago, shelters have been opened to accommodate people in need to allow them to warm up and protect them from the risk of hypothermia.

In El Paso, Texas, desperate migrants from Mexico huddled for warmth in churches, schools and a civic center, teacher and volunteer Rosa Falcon told AFP.

But some chose to stay outside in the freezing temperatures because they feared attracting the attention of immigration authorities, she added.