Stories of victims of the Buffalo blizzard

CNN
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Abdul Sharibu, 26, left his home in Buffalo Saturday afternoon in blizzard conditions to get milk and other supplies. He never did it again.

Sharif was one of at least 39 deaths in New York’s Erie County, where a winter storm buried the city of Buffalo in nearly 52 inches of snow and trapped residents – many without heat as the Christmas weekend blizzard took power.

Most of the victims were found dead outdoors or in their homes, while others died in their cars due to delays in emergency medical services and snow removal or cardiac arrest, officials said.

The lost are loving mothers, daughters and sons and for Sharibu, a happy expectant father with a big heart.

His wife Gloria Mawaso, pregnant and days away from giving birth, told her cousin Alli Sharibu that her husband had left to provide for a family that had asked for his help.

She instructed him not to go before she went to bed around noon, Alli Sharibu said. When I woke up that evening, my husband was not at home.

Allie Sharibu, who identified her relative’s body at the hospital the next morning, said the family received a call about the man rushing to Children’s Hospital after he shared his photo on Facebook. They are refugees from the Congo who resettled in the United States in 2017 after nearly five years in a Burundi refugee camp.

While Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at a press conference Wednesday that Abdul had gone out to buy food for his pregnant wife, family members believe he was actually shopping for another family — a common occurrence for him.

“My cousin is very nice. When you called him to help you, he would help,” said Alli Sharibu, who shares a house with his cousin and his wife. “That’s why he went outside to get milk, because he doesn’t care what it’s like outside, he’ll come and try to help you.”

Ali Sharibu said the family has yet to learn from the hospital or authorities what caused Abdul’s death.

Alli Sharibu Abdul said he was “very happy to be a father” and was saving money to buy a house. Abdul worked as a machine operator in a manufacturing plant in Sectowaka.

Enoch Rushikana, a close family friend, told CNN that Abdul’s parents died in the Congo’s civil war in 2002.

“He was raised as an orphan, so he had to go back and help those children who lost their parents in the civil war,” Rushigana said. “He was an angel in our community. We nicknamed him ‘911’ because whoever called him, he was ready to help.

Monique Alexander was considered a kind of superwoman by her daughter Casey McCarron. but also, Alexander, 52Deciding to go out on Christmas Eve, Macaron was worried.

On any other day it would have been a simple decision, but A blizzard was coming.

Two hours later, when she didn’t return, Macaron asked if anyone had seen her mom on the Buffalo Blizzard Facebook page, she said.

A few minutes later, a stranger messaged her and asked her to call, McCarron said.

“He immediately started crying,” she said. “He was stranded too, and he was walking down the street and he saw her in the snow. So, he picked her up and put her under the awning… so that she wouldn’t get snowed in anymore.

“Her grandchildren were waiting for her to come home,” he added. “We were waiting for her to come home.”

Alexander had been through severe storms before and she walked everywhere.

“She always … feels invincible, so I assume she thinks she can handle situations,” McCarron said. “There was really nothing to say to my mother, she was going to do what she wanted to do. I suppose she thought she was strong enough for that.

McCarron said the family had lost its rock and someone they could call on for everything.

“My children lost their grandmother, and that was the most important role in her life … being a good grandmother,” she said. “Now they only have memories.”

Demetrius Robinson, a 58-year-old carpenter, was found in a block of ice a day before his birthday, his sister Elizabeth Rodolphe told CNN.

“Such a beautiful person was taken out of our lives,” said Rodolphe. “He’s the friendliest, gentlest and most loving and happy person you’ll ever meet.”

He said Robinson’s family was worried they could not reach him last Friday. They visited his home earlier this week, but it brought an unwanted response. His body was sent there on Sunday.

Rodolph said he did not know what Robinson was doing outside or how long his body had been in the snow before it was found.

He said he enjoyed sharing his hobby of cooking.

“He loved to cook. He would invite the neighborhood kids who were playing outside to eat whatever he was making. He treated everyone like family,” Rodolphe said.

He leaves behind a son and a daughter.

Markle Daniels, Robinson’s son, described his father as his role model and hero.

“I always looked up to Dad for a lot of things. He always talked to me about how to be a good man. He had a really big heart,” Daniels said.

Melissa Morrison was spotted in the snow near a Tim Horton’s Coffee House in Buffalo.

Her body It was later recovered His mother, Linda Addeo, became concerned Friday when her son read social media posts about the body found near the coffee shop at Morrison’s home. Audio said the coroner’s office on Tuesday confirmed to her family that the body was that of Morrison, a 46-year-old mother of two from Buffalo.

The family did not know what Morrison was doing outside, Audio said. She leaves behind two sons.

“Today was the most devastating day of our lives, losing our beautiful daughter to the storm,” Linda Addeo wrote on Facebook Tuesday about her daughter’s death.

She added, “I don’t know how or what to do. I’ll never be the same.”

Morrison is a Buffalo native, homemaker and mother.

“She’s a young and beautiful person. She’s outgoing and funny. She’ll do anything for anybody,” Addeo said.

Andelle Taylor was there A grown 22 year old female In Charlotte, North Carolina, Storm stayed in touch with family members throughout her final hours.

He was found dead in the car BlizzardHis family told CNN on Tuesday.

Taylor was on her way home from work at a senior citizen center and was stranded six minutes by car from her home when she lost contact with her, frantic relatives said.

One of Taylor’s older sisters, Tomatia Brown, told CNN that Taylor sent a video to a group chat with her sisters around 3 p.m. Friday. In the video, Taylor captures snow and whiteout conditions. She told her sisters, who live in North Carolina, that she was stuck And the snow kept fallingBrown said.

Taylor called 911 and waited for first responders, Brown and Wanda Brown Steele — Taylor’s mother — told CNN.

“Her plan was to wait until the police got there,” her sister said. But if that fails, she plans to “get up and walk when her car runs out of gas.”

In the early hours of Christmas Eve, Taylor would send her last video message to the group chat. In it, Taylor opens the driver’s side window of his car to reveal a road that has turned into a barren, snowy wasteland. Taylor texted in the chat that if she got out of her car, she thought the snow would be up to her waist.

After tracking his phone at an address, Brown posted information on a private Facebook page, Buffalo Blizzard 2022, asking for help. Later that evening, she received a call from an unknown person. “He informed us that he checked her pulse and there was no pulse,” Brown said.

“I really don’t believe it,” he said. “It was like a piercing sensation in my stomach, a pain I’ve never felt before.”

Brown said Taylor’s body wasn’t removed from the car until the next day, after a woman sent a message on Facebook letting Brown know she had found the car — and her sister’s body.

Emergency crews were unable to reach the car. The woman waited for Taylor’s relatives who live in Buffalo to arrive. They all helped move Taylor’s body into another vehicle, where he was taken to a hospital, Brown said.

Taylor was described by her sister as “a caring and nurturing person”.

“If she can help it, she’ll help you,” her mother said.

Taylor would have turned 23 next month, Brown said.