At least 34 Dead bodies reportedly found in cars as winter storm

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.