Buffalo residents who came for Bears-Bills game find themselves stranded due to blizzard
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A winter storm that has paralyzed Buffalo and other parts of upstate New York has now been blamed for 25 deaths.
As CBS 2's Marissa Perlman reported Monday, the storm stranded many Buffalo residents in Chicago. They came for the Bears-Bills game at Soldier Field on Saturday, and now many of them are struggling to get home.
Buffalo fans left Soldier Field Saturday with many hoping they would make it home in time for Christmas. But as almost eight feet of snow fell over Western New York, Buffalo Niagara International Airport shut down – and the earliest flight they could jump on would be Wednesday.
On Monday, Bills fans with whom we spoke said they knew they were risking getting stuck in Chicago as the data showed a once-in-a-lifetime blizzard would fall the holiday weekend.
We spoke with Kristen Kimmick, who runs a Buffalo Bills female fan group. As a bucket list challenge, she vowed to make it to every Bills game – home and away – this year.
The Bears game was not one she wanted to miss, so she got in her car and drove through rough Indiana terrain to make it to Chicago.
Back home, she has not had power since Saturday – but now, she is trying to make the journey home.
We spoke to Kimmick about 50 miles outside of Chicago proper. She was back on the road Monday after spending Christmas in a Chicago bar.
"We just got on the road, and I'm hoping six, seven hours to get us as close as we can," she said.
With so many road closures, Kimmick knows it is still possible she could get stuck again on the way back.
"Rather than adding to that mess, we decided even attempting to get in and possibly getting stuck - and putting more issues for first responders - we decided to stay in Chicago for an extra night. Now, we're going to try and get a little bit closer. But I think we're going to be stuck – probably in Cleveland or in Erie, Pennsylvania," Kimmick said. "If you pray, if you send out good vibes – anything like that - keep Buffalo in your thoughts for the next, you know, week or so, because I have a feeling that the fallout from the storm is going to be a lot more than it looks like now."
\In Buffalo, travel bans are everywhere. Power is still out for tens of thousands of people – and the death toll is climbing. Kimmick is not sure what she will be coming home to.
"How many people didn't have the right amount of resources? How many people are going to be trapped in their homes?" she said. "I'm scared, and it's devastasting."Buffalo fan Christian Brown and his wife are too trying to get home to their dog, Fezzik. Brown's Christmas Day flight was canceled.
"When they closed the airport until Monday is when we knew for sure we weren't going to be able to fly out," Brown said.
The family's eight-hour journey is looking more like 10. Brown is now just hoping his city will soon get a much-needed break.
"From May and the Tops shooting, and then we had about 3 feet of snow in November – and three weeks later, we have the biggest storm that anybody can remember," Brown said.
About 90 Buffalo Bills fans who came to Chicago together were planning on flying out directly after the came, and they too got stuck in Chicago for Christmas.
The latest estimate is that Buffalo Niagara International Airport is expected to reopen midday Wednesday. But fans we spoke with said flights are booking up fast – with no promises from the airlines that they will take off.