Winter storm kills 60 across US, over 15,000 flights cancelled; Buffalo worst hit

A relentless storm, what authorities called the ‘blizzard of the century’ paralysed western New York over the Christmas weekend.

So far, the storm has killed 27 people in New York and at least 60 across the whole of the United States. Local officials on Monday said efforts to dig out the snow-bound region around Buffalo were on as rescue operations continued.

Roadways remained littered with cars, buses, ambulances, tow trucks and even plows buried beneath towering drifts, complicating efforts to clear snow-blanketed streets and reach stranded residents in need of medical care. Authorities deployed high-lift tractors as hospital transport.