behind you there, lucy. thanks so much for your reporting there. the death toll from that winter storm in the hard-hit buffalo region of new york has risen once again. it is now at 39. officials expect it to rise further. cnn s miguel marquez has more on the trauma in this tight-knit community. the death toll rising as buffalo continues digging out the scope of this disaster, still coming into focus. unfortunately, there are families in this community who still have not been able to identify where a loved one s. they are missing. we do have still john does. those family members will eventually find out the worst news possible. lost his nephew, abdul. it s a big congolese family here, what have you lost? an angel. we lost an angel. we lost an angel. he was married last year, his wife, due to give birth to
return to normal operations with minimal disruptions as early as friday. nick valencia, cnn, atlanta. a significant storm is taking aim at the u.s. west coast this weekend, bringing with it the threat of heavy rain, snow and strong winds. more than 16 million people are under a flood watch through saturday night and in parts of california. much of the country will see higher than normal temperatures, and some new year s eve celebrations will be met with rain expected in new york, washington, d.c., los angeles and san francisco. a husband and wife who are both pastors rescued more than 100 people and provided a safe place for them to stay during this historic blizzard that hit buffalo, new york last week. after days of being buried under mounds of snow, the city is slowly getting back to normal. cnn s athena jones reports. reporter: hi there.
cnn, denver. at least 39 people lost their lives in the historic blizzard that hit buffalo, new york, last weekend. officials say that figure is likely to continue to rise as snow melts and more bodies are found. cnn s athena jones. reporter: hi there. the city of buffalo is getting ba being to normal. city hall opened on thursday as did a nearby courthouse and the erie county offices. the driving ban has been lifted. may yorp byron brown said as of friday morning the travel ban will be lifted. they ve made a lot of progress, a lot of clearer roads. the work going on behind me, that will continue until all of the snow is clear. one bit of work that is still going on is about the death toll. the medical examiner for erie county has confirmed some 39 deaths as of noon on thursday.
0 when a truck hit my car, the insurance company wasn t fair. i didid t t kn whahatmy c caswa, so i called the barnes firm. i m rich barnes. it s hard for people to k how much their accident case is worth.h barnes. t ouour juryry aorneneys hehelpou hello and welcome to our viewers 20th from the united states and all of the world. today u.s. lawmakers will reveal a bit of what former president donald trump has kept hidden for years. his tax returns. what to expect ahead. plus pure joy for one traveler after finding his lost luggage! we will bring you an update on a chaotic holiday for flyers and have a look at some systems that could cancel some flights ahead of the new year. rest in peace, pelc. the world mourns the death of a football legend. we will have some of the attributes pouring in. live from cnn center , this is cnn newsroom . we begin with the latest chapter of a legal battle that has been playing out in washington for years. in the coming hours, u.s. lawmakers will
get some information about where your bag might be and so that s another way that they re trying to help the customers who are understandably very frustrated, alex. look at those bags. okay. blayne alexander, thank you so much for the latest. jessie, i know you re there in buffalo where volunteers are gathering to help dig this community out. what are you seeing? reporter: yeah, alex, that underscores the situation we re still in. at this point about six full days after the blizzard first hit buffalo and amidst the ongoing cleanup efforts, there have been questions about why this has been taking so long. we have traffic out here on the roads right now. earlier this morning, they lifted the do not drive ban so people are allowed to be on the roads. people might be running out of medicine, food. again, it was going on the better part of a week that people were being told they should be staying at home and not being on the roads to run errands. because it s taken so long here, there