means we ll see a rapid melt and now there s the possibility of flooding heading into the upcoming holiday weekend. jessie, thank you very much. it s so hard to imagine being stuck in cars when it s so freezing. those poor families knowing that loved ones died and couldn t be rescued in time. the troubles continue for southwest airlines. more than 2,500 additional flights are expected to be canceled today. the airline said it could take days to resume normal operations. that s more than 8,000 canceled flights since monday. southwest s ceo says the airline has been unable to get flight crews where they need to be. in an interview transportation secretary pete buttigieg demanded that southwest take care of stranded passengers and employees. they told me in their words
death toll in western new york. officials warning it s not over yet as they have to clean out. in erie county there s reported three additional deaths yesterday and that brings the total to 31 lives lost. buffalo, that s still under a driving ban this morning because work crews are trying to clear the streets after the storm dumped 40 inches of snow on the city. don t go in your car unless you really need to. let s bring in jessie kirsch who joins us live from buffalo. what s the latest on the recovery effort? reporter: good morning. you can see we have a lot of snow on the ground. some of the roadways covered in varying degrees of snow. we re still under a travel ban in the city. officials are warning people there are military police enforcing that ban on those getting in the way of
the death toll has climbed to 63 nationwide after this brutal storm blanketed parts of western new york with as much as four feet of snow and brought powerful wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour with more snow in the forecast, tishls fear the deet death toll could continue to rise joining us now with the latest on the ground is jessie kirsch so wow, all that snow behind you, what kinds of conditions are people faising this morning? reporter: so at this point, we re moving more and more into the cleanup phase. for first responders there s still the rescue and search unefforts underway we know there s recovery efforts. another seven people confirmed dead according to officials locally in this part of western new york so the death toll continues rising, a sobering reminder this is not just a typical snowstorm. it was not your joyful white christmas in western new york. you can see these businesses are
nearly 60, 55 total across the country. listen now they ve settled down on life-saving rescues, they re going to stop people to see if they have emergency travel authorization. if they don t, they re going to ticket them and send them back on their way. emergency workers are having a tough time getting to people not just because the roads are tricky to get through even now, but they re blocked in other places from folks try to get out and about. they re asking people to please, please stay home as they have found the bodies of people in cars, even in snow banks i want to bring in jessie kirsch who is live for us in new york, shaquille brewster bring us up to speed on what s happening in western new york this morning. reporter: you just underscored at the end there i think something that just illustrates so perfectly the dire situation that we are hearing about from western new york you have people that have been found dead in cars, according to
jessie referenced the travel situation. this situation has had a domino effect for people trying to get home thousands of flights canceled today, shaq. reporter: that s exactly right. for far too many people, the travel nightmares are continuing into this monday after the christmas weekend. last check, about 1700 cancellations today alone, more than 3,000 delays at airports across the country ha hallie, yesterday here at chicago o hare airport, 1 out of every 3 flights were delayed as they were leaving this airport one thing that i ve been seeing here is that people are coming in early, they know what to expect, they know that this is a tough travel weekend, one thing that surprised me is i didn t expect them to feel jealous hearing about some of the destinations that they re traveling to you hearabout the struggle tha they have, some people saying this is their fourth day trying to travel. multiple attempts of trying to