“So many lives probably could have been saved if they put the travel ban in the night before,” Anndel Taylor's stepmother said.
A North Carolina woman who was just shy of her 23rd birthday died during the historic blizzard that impacted the Buffalo area of New York over the holiday weekend. 22-year-old Anndel Taylor was one of more than 30 people who died in the storm. She was traveling home from work in Buffalo when her car got stuck in the snow. She ended up being trapped inside for 18 hours before she died, according to her family. Shawnequa Brown, Taylor's sister told ABC affiliate WSOC-TV. "[There's been] a lot of crying," after the 22-year-old's unexpected death.
This is one of the many Buffalo storm victims: Anndel Taylor, 22, who moved there to be with her diabetic father.
— Melissa Chan (@melissalchan) December 27, 2022
Her dad said on days he'd leave for dialysis, she’d rub his legs and put his socks and shoes on him.
MORE: https://t.co/kmlt3kaXWY pic.twitter.com/ZbGiHvrSsQ
“I don’t know if any of us really knew how serious it was, we didn’t see the news, we didn’t really know what was going on in Buffalo,” she said. Brown and other family members kept in touch with Taylor through the group chat where she informed them that she was stuck in blinding snow that was piling up fast. It seems she also shared a video of the car windows seemingly covered by snow.
“She was telling my sister that she was scared,” Brown said. The family claimed that Taylor had called 911 when her car got stuck in the snow, but that help never came as first responders couldn’t reach her. She then planned to sleep out the storm and later walk home. She was later found dead in her car. There's been “a lot of crying, (she) still got presents under the tree,” Shawnequa Brown said.
Anndel Taylor, 22, died in her car after being trapped by Buffalo blizzard while driving home from work. She was found after 18 hours. She sent her family this final video from inside the car. pic.twitter.com/w8GBwR9UOm
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) December 27, 2022
The cause of death is yet to be determined. While some believe she died from hypothermia her mother thinks her daughter died of carbon monoxide poisoning.“The car was running, and the snow was still coming, so it blocked the pipes, the exhaust pipe,” Wanda Brown Steele said. “Then after the car cut off, that’s when she iced up.” The family has set up a GoFundMe as they are " truly in need of emotional and financial help to complete the task at hand and with heavy hearts we are reaching out to all of you to assist us."
The stepmother of Taylor who was a Buffalo nurse told The New York Post that she was just minutes away from home when she became stuck. She believes Taylor could have been saved along with many others. “They said they were prepared for this storm but they were not prepared for this storm,” Smith said. “So many lives probably could have been saved if they put the travel ban in the night before,” she added.
“We were calling, her mother was calling, her sisters I’m sure were calling, my son was calling. They had multiple calls from everyone who knew, calling the police and 911,” she continued. “They had a number up for the National Guard – that number wasn’t working. We were calling all of the fire stations in the area — everything in the area where she was so maybe somebody would go out and try to help her. Nothing. Nothing. Everybody saying they’re gonna do, they’re gonna do it, they’re gonna check, oh we’ll get around to it, we’ll get around to it, we’ll get around to it — They never got around to it” Smith said.
REMEMBERING BLIZZARD VICTIMS: this is Anndel Taylor, 22, who is believe to have died on Christmas Eve. She got stuck in her car Friday afternoon while trying to get home from work. She called 911, but first responders were unable to reach her. Our prayers go out to her family. pic.twitter.com/uLrnPUzWey
— Niagara Action (@NiagaraAction) December 28, 2022
References:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/tragedy-in-buffalo-ny-blizzard-2022
Cover Image Source: GoFundMe
