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A ‘HISTORIC’ STORM dumped more than five feet of snow, stranding scores of motorists, canceling flights and killing at least eight people in the northeastern United States.
Areas east and southeast of Buffalo, in northern New York state, could receive a year’s accumulation of snow or even more in just two days, Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz told reporters.
https://vine.co/v/OJvL6ieKerA
The deadly burst, named Winter Storm Knife, may see as much as another three feet (one metre) of snowfall today, which could prompt a federal disaster declaration, Poloncarz said.
The Arctic blast will keep temperatures below normal until the weekend, and all 50 states recording below freezing temperatures on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
A state of emergency and travel bans are in effect across Buffalo’s Erie County and authorities ordered people to stay at home to allow crews to clear roads, repair power lines and provide emergency assistance to the most vulnerable.
‘Difficult, paralysed situation’
James A Fry / TwitterLanding in #buffalo at 11pm #snowmageddon14 #LakeEffect #beyondthewall pic.twitter.com/oSBLhyPECF
— James (@JamesAFry) November 19, 2014
County spokesman Peter Anderson said runways at Buffalo Niagara International Airport were open, but that “a lot of flights” were being canceled because people cannot get to the airport.
The National Guard was called in to assist military Humvee vehicles after New York’s transportation department worked through the night to rescue stranded motorists and take people to shelters.
“This is something that we’re not going to be able to solve on our own. Many communities are still in a very difficult, in some ways paralysed situation,” Poloncarz said.
“From a public health standpoint this has been a killer storm. We’ve had six deaths in the area, five of which have been preventable,” said Erie county health commissioner Gale Burstein.
Declan Pierce / TwitterThe view of the snow blizzard in Buffalo outside my cousin's house is unreal! Totally snowed in pic.twitter.com/X77pAOZxlc
— Declan Pierce (@DecPierce) November 20, 2014
Three of those who died suffered heart attacks while shoveling snow and another person died while using a snowplow.
US media reported two other deaths in the states of New Hampshire and Michigan.
Dave Zaff, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service, said areas east and southeast of Buffalo city received upwards of five feet (1.5 meters) of snow.
“That is somewhat of an extreme event,” he told AFP. “From a forecast standpoint, it will be historic.
“The impact alone when you have hundreds of thousands of people stranded, roads closed everywhere, you start to get fatalities,” he said.
Shannon Fisher / TwitterNope, that's not a white wall behind my son #BuffaloSnow pic.twitter.com/xlm4EgQOu7
— Shannon (@ShanV11) November 18, 2014
A university women’s basketball team was eventually rescued after spending more than 24 hours trapped in a bus on a highway.
And New York-based rock band Interpol was among those trapped in the snowstorm outside Buffalo overnight, forcing them to cancel a concert across the Canadian border in Toronto.
Good. More competition, more choice = better savings for those who have a mortgage and those who are seeking one
@Nowa Huta: How about they open up the mortgage market so we can get mortgages from other EU countries (which offer rates around the 0.5% mark). Single market my a$$
@Brian Henoll:
What is stopping banks from other EU countries coming here?
There’s absolutely no reason why the post office should.go into high street banking while the high street owes us 60 billion. The credit union in my town tried to move into mainstreet banking (they literally moved to main street at the hight of the crises) and got caught for hundreds of thousands in loans while they were pretending to be bankers. The upshot is that you can’t get a small loan from them anymore. I repeat myself. The actual main street bankers owe us 60 billion. We need it back.
@Louis Jacob:
Many of those high street banks are struggling to stay afloat in an increasingly competitive environment, with their bloated cost base, and some with massive exposure still in UK market and uncertainties of Brexit, plus other disruptive challenges coming down the track, for example Cryptocurrency innovation.
Our State still owns large chunks of equity in some HSBs which they’re hoping to sell off ASAP and recover some of that €60 bn you refer to.
Expanding services offered by fine state-owned network of Post Offices, particularly mortgages, might offer only chance of recovery of some more over long-term.
@Rory J Leonard: My local post office is stocked with O Driscolls and Mccarthys. Very few degrees there, maybe a few arts degrees. They should not be allowed near finances. Yera if you’re into that kind of thing you might be alright. Maybe the gardi could involed. The credit union in my town got involved in some dark forces.
@Louis Jacob: I hate to harp on but if you need a grand in my town now you go to a money lender who charges you 36%. All the while the eejits who work in the credit union walk around town in designer clothes
@Louis Jacob: the credit Union is a different kettle of fish. That was, in part, a stitch up by McCreavy and co. The banking sector did not like that CU held up so much of cash floating around in a friendly society set up. (They hate, for example,that in Quebec banks are sidelined CUs, as people their won’t use banks for day to day stuff). So they began a process of dragging them into their banking world. This included changing products on offer, including mortgages and commercial loans. Also dragging them into credit bureau rules. Anything to put a partition between CU and their local base. The upshot was CU money and the now increased CU debt became part of their rotten system.
@Greg Blake: So (and I’m really not being adversarial) what is the good in dragging the PO away from their base? People depend on them for a certain service. Aso sure as shot power corrupts.
@Louis Jacob: power certainly corrupts, as we have seen in the banks
@Louis Jacob: watch the price of a stamp jump to 1.50 to shore up losses when bust hits
@Louis Jacob: watch the price of a stamp jump to 1.50 to shore up losses when bust hitsr
@Quentin Moriarty: 1.50…not quite in the same league as the bank bail out.
Can’t say I’ve any more faith in An Post management than I do in any other semi State.
Irish borrowers won’t enjoy Continental interest rates until they have Continental style “Lose your house if you don’t pay your mortgage rules”
@Goban Saor: their screwing their staff pension rights their a filthy company a complete sham I’d have nothing to do with them sher their phone network is another complete scam if your unfortunate enough to sign up for that with hidden charges.
Also I can send a parcel anywhere in Ireland with the local postal store up to a huge 30 kilos I think it is for €12 Euros and the post office would be about triple that probably even more.
The postal store I’m on about actually have the tender for delivering the An Post mail through Ireland. It just goes to show how scammy they are the top boys must be milking it good ohh. How can the Postal Store make a profit on a 12 Euro parcel anywhere in Ireland and in An Post it would be triple the price or more work than one out?
I’m gonna be honest here. My life has been destroyed ( and I mean destroyed) by creditors. It’s the the reason I can’t sleep. Remind me. What would be the benefit in this?
@Louis Jacob: Everybody is a slave when you owe money. The only thing you should borrow for is a home and no more than 15 year mortgage.
Save for things you need. Don’t buy new cars unless you have it in cash or are genuinely loaded.
Most people who have debt are in denial that they are broke. If you owe money folks you are broke.
@Louis Jacob: don’t know what benefits are in it for you Louis, or for me, I won’t be signing into any mortgages in future. But, I think more choice can only help young couples going that way. Also if it helps to keep an post alive, that’s a good thing, with all this faceless banking taking hold.
@Greg Blake: The post office is good as it is. Every time these guys try to move up they leave a vacute behind.
@Louis Jacob: The post office is good as it is. Every time these guys try to move up they leave a vacume behind.
@Niallers: you’re absolutely right, doesn’t matter what you earn, just spend less that what you earn and save some and you won’t have money worries. Most of the stuff people borrow for is stuff they should save up for instead – cars, furniture, tv’s, holidays, Christmas, we need to cop on and keep on to our hard-earned money instead of trying to keep up with the Jones.
This reads as a very naive article. So An Post is seeking a partner with whom it will enter the mortgage market and sets out its requirements of such a partner…. yet, what does An Post bring to the partnership:
1)Mortgage lending experience – Nil
2)Suitably experienced staff – unlikely
3)Suitable Business Premises – No
4)Funding capability – weak. If you had a billion would you lend it to a start up mortgage lender with no experience?!
So An Post itself is anything but an attractive mortgage lending partner.
I would point out that there are several mortgage operators open for business. It’s not easy to get a mortgage, nor should it be. Central Bank rules also constrain lenders. Based on our boom bust experienced heightened regulation is for the better.
An Post? No thank you!
@Niall: Correct. It would be a friends only service
@Louis Jacob: One article in the Journal and you both have the business model sorted?
@Niall: You must work for a bank and are afraid of the completion, maybe they might actually offer proper interest rates and you will lose customers hand over fist lol.
A sure way to know a recession is coming is when everyone wants a slice of the ponzi scheme.
You will witness the collapse of An Post who are now drunk on their profits and success .
Crazy idea
@Quentin Moriarty: Amen. You can use the credit union as proof.
@Louis Jacob: Or the banks as we have seen.
They see opportunity to make money because we are at our peak again. It’ll be hard for them to get a steady foot on a sinking ship.
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