Winter’s wrath: Dozens dead nationwide as brutal storm blasts U.S. with frigid temperatures

At least 37 people are dead nationwide from a brutal winter storm as the United States continues to be blasted with frigid temperatures. 

Up to 43 inches of snow cover parts of western New York as the area is drowning in a so-called "lake effect" snow, which is created when cold air crosses the warm Great Lakes water. At least 17 people were killed by Sunday evening in the state, CNN reported.

Even emergency vehicles were stuck in the snow in Erie County, New York, which includes Buffalo.

Eleven ambulances were abandoned and later dug out on Sunday, according to officials.

"The rescue team was rescuing rescuers … it was so horrible," county executive Mark Poloncarz said. Some people were later found deceased in cars, he said. His county has a driving ban in place through Monday.

The National Guard is assisting in New York rescue efforts while state police were involved in more than 500 rescues by Sunday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said. 

About 100,000 customers are without electricity throughout the United States as of Monday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. Several major electrical companies are asking customers to conserve power because of the storm. The largest outages are in Maine, where over 27,000 customers are without power, and in New York, where nearly 14,000 customers do not have electricity.

Meanwhile, thousands of U.S. flights have been canceled due to the storm, including over 3,000 on Sunday and more than 1,500 so far on Monday, data from FlightAware shows.