Anndel Taylor Buffalo woman sends final Goodbye video while trapped in blizzard for 18 hours in storm of the century that killed 27 in the area.
A Buffalo, upstate NY woman trapped in a historic blizzard sent a final Goodbye video to her family while stranded in her car for up to 18 hours over the weekend.
Anndel Taylor, 22, died after her car was stranded in snow Friday afternoon on her way home from work – one of 27 fatalities succumbing to frigid conditions currently being seen in New York‘s second-largest city. Officials fear the death toll will only continue to climb amid ongoing expected snow storms.
Officials announced that Taylor was one of three motorists found dead in a vehicle, defiantly taking to the road despite a ban on personal road travel that remains in effect.
It was stated that Taylor sent a video to her family (see immediately below) before she died and was trapped in her vehicle for 18 hours, as more than 50 inches of snow surrounded her vehicle.
As emergency services went ‘car to car’ searching for survivors, NY Governor Kathy Hochul, granted county officials’ requests to declare a statewide state of emergency as snow levels continue to surpass 50 inches.
Pleas to recover stranded motorist
Taylor sent her family a final video from inside her car the day before she was discovered dead from what her mother had was carbon monoxide poisoning rather than hypothermia.
It showed her car stuck in snow while a frightening wind howled outside just after midnight on Saturday.
The video sparked desperate pleas from her friends and family who begged strangers states away to help locate their missing loved one, who was eventually found sometime after Saturday afternoon. The exact date and time is unknown.
Taylor, who was born in Buffalo but raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, moved back to New York earlier this year to take care of her father.
The 22-year-old’s mom and sister spoke with WCOS in North Carolina about the agony of receiving the terrifying video and the waiting afterwards.
In a family group chat, Taylor told her family members she was stuck in the snow while driving home from work and the precipitation was coming down fast.
The 16 second video showed Taylor rolling down the snow-covered window to display a wintry landscape.
57 deaths nation wide related to cold snap
‘She was telling my sister that she was scared,’ said Shawnequa Brown, Taylor’s sister.
The camera pans out over the scene which features several feet of snow under the car and another stranded vehicle just across the way.
All the while the snow and cold whips through the air in the otherwise silence of the night.
As of Monday evening, 27 deaths across Erie County, the county where Buffalo is located, have been confirmed.
In total, nationwide, 57 people have died in weather-related incidents during the historic ‘once in a lifetime’ storm.
Taylor’s family said she had called 911 and was waiting for first responders who couldn’t reach her when she sent the video.
‘I feel like everybody that tried to get to her got stuck’
Wanda Brown Steele, Taylor’s mother, told WCOS her daughter was planning to sleep out the storm in her vehicle before walking home the next day.
Just hours later, however, Taylor was found dead inside her vehicle.
Her family said they believe she may have been stuck for 18 hours before her body was discovered.
Taylor’s other sister, Tomeshia Brown, said some people had tried to rescue her and her vehicle but attempts were futile.
‘I feel like everybody that tried to get to her got stuck. Fire department, police, everybody got stuck,’ said Tomeshia.
‘Why didn’t they have chains on their tires? This is a state that is known for snow,‘ the sister continued.
Local law enforcement officials have yet to confirm Taylor as one of the victims of the storm, nor has her cause of death been released.
Now the family is left to deal with the tragic loss during the holiday season.
‘A lot of crying, (she) still got presents under the tree,’ Shawnequa said.
Please help share around. Heart breaking that this happened#buffaloblizzardhttps://t.co/fAZPIiG2cZ
— Dennis Bishop (@JellyGingy) December 26, 2022
Record snow levels
Taylor would have turned 23 in January.
A GoFundMe has been set up for the family to bring Taylor home to Charlotte and pay for funeral expenses.
Erie County, New York, executive Mark Poloncarz described the weekend blizzard as ‘the worst storm probably in our lifetime’ and warned there may be more dead.
Some people, he noted, were stranded in their cars for more than two days.
‘It’s just a horrible situation that we can see sort of the light at the end of the tunnel. But this is not the end yet,’ he said on Monday.
Poloncarz tweeted that 14 people in the county had died of exposure, three people were found in their vehicles, four had no heat, three were from shoveling/(snow) blowing cardiac events, and three people passed away after EMS services were delayed.
On Monday, local weather reporters shared Buffalo’s airport had seen more than 49 inches of snow.
On Sunday, the National Weather Service of Buffalo reported the area had already been hit with 92.7 inches of snow during the 2022 season so far.
For comparison, Buffalo typically sees 95.4 inches for the whole season, which ends on June 30.
The county is expected to continue to see snow well into Tuesday.
