At least 38 people were reportedly killed in recent days as an arctic blast ripped through Canada and the U.S through Christmas weekend.
Buffalo, New York, was hit the hardest by deaths in the continent, according to a report from the BBC published Monday. Thirty-four deaths occurred in the U.S., with four other recorded in Canada after a bus rolled over on an icy roadway in Merritt, British Columbia.
Other deaths were reported in Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Vermont and Colorado, the BBC noted.
Footage of frozen homes in Buffalo went viral on social media over Christmas weekend, showing frost-covered exteriors. Forecasters expect the storm to ease in coming days, with a significant warmup expected by New Years Eve, according to AccuWeather.
“This will go down in history as Buffalo’s most devastating storm,” Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday, according to the BBC. “It is [like] going to a war zone and the vehicles along the sides of the roads are shocking.”
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At its peak, some 1.7 million people were left without power and thousands of flights were cancelled throughout Christmas, the BBC continued. Roughly 200,000 people remained without power as of Sunday. (RELATED: Coldest Christmas In Decades To Hit US As Winter Storm Elliot Moves Eastwards)
In parts of Florida, some iguanas froze and fell out of trees.
The extreme weather conditions came as a “bomb cyclone” rolled from the Pacific Northwest toward the eastern seaboard.