At least 48 people dead in US winter storm as freezing conditions to continue

Freezing conditions from a deadly winter storm in the United States will continue into the week as western New York deals with massive snowdrifts that have snarled emergency vehicles, and travelers across the country see cancelled flights and dangerous roads.

The storm has killed at least 48 people and is expected to claim more lives after trapping some residents inside houses and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

Western New York state, near the city of Buffalo, was hardest hit, with 43in of snow falling during a 48-hour, zero-visibility blizzard that also recorded hurricane-force winds. Huge snowdrifts nearly covered cars and there were thousands of houses in the dark.

At least 27 people are known to have died in western New York, ranging in age from 26 to 93 and including a 27-year-old man who was overcome by carbon monoxide after snow blocked his furnace. Many of the deaths occurred after residents took to the roads despite a local driving ban.

Two people also died in their homes in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga when emergency crews could not reach them in time to treat their medical conditions. Other people were trapped in their cars for more than two days, as cold Arctic air moving east over the Great Lakes caused enormous amounts of precipitation.

The extreme weather stretched from the Great Lakes on the Canadian border to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the US population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians.

Ditjak Ilunga of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was on his way to visit relatives in Ontario, for Christmas with his daughters on Friday when their SUV was trapped in Buffalo. They spent hours with the engine running, buffeted by wind and nearly buried in snow.

By 4am on Saturday, their fuel nearly gone, Ilunga chose to risk the howling storm to reach a nearby shelter. He carried six-year-old Destiny on his back while 16-year-old Cindy clutched their pomeranian puppy, following his footprints through drifts.

The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle. But heat and light were steadily being restored across the US.

In Jackson, Mississippi, city officials on Christmas Day announced residents must boil their drinking water due to water lines freezing and bursting.

The Associated Press contributed reporting