Dead bodies found in cars as winter storm continues to devastate US and Canada

At least 34 people have died in one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit western New York, ITV News' correspondent Robert Moore reports

Residents in the US city of Buffalo hunted for cars buried in snow drifts and looked for more victims after 34 people died in one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit western New York.

State and military police have now been mobilised to keep people off Buffalo's snow-covered roads as officials continue to count the fatalities after one of the most deadly storms recorded in two generations.

County Executive Mark Poloncarz said that police are being positioned at entrances to Buffalo and at major intersections to enforce a ban on driving.

This comes as the storm-battered city braced for more snow with the National Weather Service predicting that as much as two inches could fall on Tuesday in Erie County, which includes Buffalo.

While this is less intense than the huge storm that dropped over four feet of snow in some places, starting on Christmas Eve, lead forecaster Bob Oravec said: “Any additional snowfall that Buffalo may continue to have today is going to be impactful".

The rest of the United States has also been reeling from the ferocious winter storm, with at least another two dozen deaths reported in other parts of the country, and power outages in communities from Maine to Washington state.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz called the blizzard “the worst storm probably in our lifetime”, even for an area accustomed to punishing snow.

Some people, he noted, were stranded in their cars for more than two days.

President Joe Biden said his prayers were with the victims’ families, and offered federal assistance on Monday to the hard-hit state.

Those who lost their lives around Buffalo were found in cars, homes and snowbanks. Some died while shovelling snow, others when emergency crews could not respond in time to medical crises.

Melissa Carrick, a doula, said the blizzard forced her to coach a pregnant client through childbirth by telephone. An ambulance crew transported the woman to a hospital about 45 minutes south of Buffalo because none of the closer hospitals were reachable.

"In any other normal Buffalo storm? I would just go because that’s what you do – just drive through the snow,” she said. “But you knew this was different.”

Other residents shared striking footage of the storm on social media. Twitter user @liliefleur uploaded a clip of her husband surrounded by 66 inches of snow.

Meanwhile, meteorologist Reed Timmer filmed himself being lashed by icy winds, adding that it was "one of the most extensive, most intense blizzards" he's ever covered.

Scientists say the climate change crisis may have contributed to the intensity of the storm. That’s because the atmosphere can carry more water vapor, which acts as fuel, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Centre at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

The blizzard roared across western New York on Friday and Saturday. With many grocery stores in the Buffalo area closed and driving bans in place, some people pleaded on social media for donations of food and diapers.

“It was like looking at a white wall for 14 to 18 hours straight,” Mr Poloncarz, the county official, said.

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Relief is coming later this week, as forecasts call for temperatures to slowly rise, said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Mr Cook said the bomb cyclone - when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm - has weakened. It developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions including heavy winds and snow.

Many airlines were forced to cancel flights due to the weather, but Southwest was by far the leader in cancelled flights.

Problems at Southwest Airlines appeared to snowball after the worst of the storm passed. It cancelled more than 70% of its flights Monday, and more than 60% on Tuesday. American, United, Delta and JetBlue, suffered cancellations rates of between none and 2% by Tuesday.

Passengers stood in long lines trying to rebook their flights. The Department of Transportation said on Twitter that it was “concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service.”

The department added that it would look into whether Southwest could have done anything about the cancellations and whether the airline was complying with its customer service plan.

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the airline would operate just over a third of its usual schedule to allow crews to get back to where they needed to be.

“We had a tough day today. In all likelihood we’ll have another tough day tomorrow as we work our way out of this,” he said Monday evening. “This is the largest scale event that I’ve ever seen.”

Based on FlightAware data, airports all across the US were suffering from cancellations and delays, including Denver, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle, Baltimore and Chicago.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul toured the aftermath in Buffalo - her hometown - on Monday, calling the blizzard “one for the ages.” Almost every fire truck in the city became stranded on Saturday, she said. Ms Hochul noted the storm came a little over a month after the region was inundated with another “historic” snowfall. Between the two storms, snowfall totals are not far off from the 95.4 inches the area normally sees in an entire winter season.

Melissa Osmon and her husband James were without power for more than 72 hours in the Buffalo suburb of Williamsville, and would retreat to their car to stay warm for hours at a time.

“We even watched the Buffalo Bills game on our phone,” Osmon said, speaking by phone from her SUV.

“You can see your breath inside the house,” she said. “That’s how cold it is.”

The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle.

Storm-related deaths were reported practically nationwide, including at least eight killed in crashes in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky. A woman fell through Wisconsin river ice, and there was a fatal fire at a Kansas homeless persons camp.

In Jackson, Mississippi, crews struggled Monday to get water through the capital city’s beleaguered water system, authorities said. Many areas had no water or low water pressure. On Christmas Day, residents were told to boil their drinking water due to water lines bursting in the frigid temperatures.