• The governor calls the storm “the worst in Buffalo’s long history.”
• Rescue squads and plough drivers are out in force because to zero visibility.
• A driving ban remains in place through Monday for parts of western New York.

Parts of western New York have received up to 43 inches of snow, trapping thousands of vehicles and knocking out power over the Christmas holiday.

A big winter storm is still battering much of the US, causing at least 37 deaths worldwide.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told Media the storm is the “most devastating storm in Buffalo’s long storied history.” The heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions made roads impassable with zero visibility, froze power substations and left at least 17 people across the state dead as of Sunday night.

Just one month after the area was pummeling by a massive snowstorm, Western New York is drowning in thick “lake effect” snow, which accumulates when cold air flows over the warm waters of the Great Lakes.

Even the emergency and recovery trucks sent out to assist have become stranded in the snow as rescue teams and hundreds of plough drivers fanned out on Christmas Day.

On Sunday, eleven abandoned ambulances were discovered, according to officials.

“The rescue team was rescuing rescuers … it was so horrible,” Mark Poloncarz, the executive of Erie County, which includes Buffalo, said during a news conference Sunday. 

Many of New York’s weather-related fatalities were in Erie County, where some people were found dead in cars and on the street in snowbanks, he said.

Deaths reported in Buffalo “are people found outside and in cars,” a Buffalo Police statement read.

Numerous members of the National Guard have been sent to assist with the rescue operations in New York.

According to the governor, state police had assisted in over 500 rescues by Sunday, including assisting a man whose artificial heart had 4% remaining and delivering a baby.

“We’re still in the throes of this very dangerous life-threatening situation,” Hochul said, urging residents to stay off the roads as a driving ban remains in place in Erie County through Monday.

“Our state and county plows have been out there, nonstop, giving up time and putting themselves in danger, driving through blinding snowstorms to clear the roads,” Hochul said.

According to Poloncarz, who reported terrifying conditions on the roads, 500 drivers were left stranded in their cars Friday night into Saturday morning as blazing blizzard conditions swept the area.

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