Buffalo: Several families were reported to have been trapped for days during the "blizzard of the century" in the monster storm that devastated New York state and air travellers nationwide over the Christmas holiday.
After three more fatalities were reported in western New York's Erie County, the crisis's epicentre, the number of deaths linked to the winter storm increased to more than 50.
Byron Brown, the mayor of Buffalo, the largest city in the lakeside county that has been rendered helpless for five days by chest-deep snow banks and power outages, tweeted that the police department "expects that number to rise."
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Buffalo native and governor of New York State, Kathy Hochul, compared the storm's aftermath to "a war zone."
Hochul told reporters on Monday that the blizzard was unquestionably the century's worst. As the temperature dropped, commuters and some locals who were escaping their chilly homes got stuck on the highways and couldn't be rescued.
Because of the severity of the storm, some areas were rendered inaccessible to ambulances for a number of hours, and snowploughs were unable to do their job, forcing some rescuers to be rescued.
Anndel Taylor, a 22-year-old Buffalo resident, was reported to have passed away in her car after becoming stuck on her way home from work, according to her family. Taylor's sister posted a video of her car with snow up to the windows that she had sent.
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Her family in North Carolina told a local TV station in North Carolina, WSOC-TV, that she may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning 18 hours after emergency responders, who themselves got stuck trying to rescue her, discovered her.
According to The New York Times, one father described spending 11 hours trapped in his car on Buffalo's streets with his four young children before being rescued.
Zila Santiago, 30, claimed that he fed his children juice he found in his trunk while keeping his engine running to provide some warmth. Finally, at dawn, a snowplough passing by saved them.
Some locals blamed the chaos on a travel ban that they claimed was implemented too late on Friday morning in a city used to snowstorms.
Mark Eguliar, a resident of Buffalo, remained at his job, where he was stranded for more than 40 hours. It was much more difficult to get home because "too many people were driving and too many people weren't listening to the ban," he claimed.
According to flight tracking website FlightAware.com, the perfect storm of fierce snow squalls, howling wind, and below-freezing temperatures forced the cancellation of thousands of flights in recent days, including about 5,900 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The majority of Southwest Airlines' flights were cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday due to cascading logistical problems, earning the airline criticism from the US government. Southwest Airlines cancelled more than 60% of its flights on those days.
The US Senate committee in charge of aviation said it would look into reasons that "go beyond weather," while the Department of Transportation tweeted that it was "concerned by Southwest's unacceptable rate of cancellations" and would check if the company was "complincing with its customer service plan."
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan expressed his "true regret" for the delays in a video statement on Tuesday, adding that a "massive effort to stabilise the airline" was in progress.
As he promised to "double down on our already existing plans to upgrade systems for these extreme circumstances so that we never again face what's happening right now," he added that he had spoken with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg about the problems. On Monday, US President Joe Biden approved a state of emergency for New York, releasing funds to aid in the state's disaster recovery. Up until Wednesday morning, Buffalo's international airport will remain closed, and the city will continue to have a driving ban. "You can unquestionably go outside and walk to open stores, check on your neighbours, etc. Mark Poloncarz, the county executive, tweeted, "But do not drive.
Bill Sherlock, a longtime resident of Buffalo, told AFP that his home had about four feet of snow, but that he was fortunate to have food and electricity that worked.
The 38-year-old lawyer noted that some homes in his neighbourhood have been without power since Friday, adding that those who were less fortunate "probably had the worst Christmas of their lives."
For the first time in nearly a week, Sherlock said he might wait another day to leave his house: "We're not going anywhere unless we have to." Eight arrests had been made as a result of the numerous looting incidents that were reported in the city over the Christmas holiday, according to Mayor Brown to CNN.
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By the weekend, the National Weather Service predicted warmer temperatures of around 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius), but they also issued a warning that snowmelt could cause minor flooding.
All states on the US mainland experienced below-freezing temperatures over the weekend due to the extreme weather, including Texas near the Mexico border where some newly arrived migrants have found it difficult to find shelter.
According to tracker PowerOutage.us, nearly 1.7 million customers were without electricity at one point on Saturday in the bitter cold. Some of the busiest transportation routes in the country, including a section of the Interstate 70 highway that runs across the country, were temporarily shut down as a result of road ice and whiteout conditions.