One of the coldest Christmases in modern memory has left more than 60 people dead across the US, with 34 people killed in the hardest-hit area of Erie County, New York, where the city of Buffalo was hammered by over 50 inches of snow.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz confirmed three additional deaths on Wednesday, marking the deadliest storm in western New York in at least two generations.
State and military police have now been sent to Buffalo to enforce a driving ban so that officials can clear the snow and people stranded in cars and homes can finally be reached, while the state National Guard went door to door conducting welfare checks in neighbourhoods that lost electricity.
As the city continues to dig out of the storm, the death toll is expected to climb further.
Beyond New York state, winter storm Elliott’s icy bite also saw temperatures plunge to record lows in parts of Montana, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming, and wrought havoc on Christmas travel plans.
While many airlines have begun recovering from the storm, Southwest Airlines continued to ax thousands of flights again on Tuesday – prompting an investigation by the federal government into its actions.
