Buffalo snowstorm strands 2 Windsor, Ont., men in hotel

A couple of Windsor workers who travel to Buffalo every week have been stranded in a hotel since Monday after meteorologists say a storm dumped a year's worth of snow on parts of upstate New York.

• Buffalo, western New York being hit by another blast of snow
• Snowed-in Buffalo residents share stunning images of 'buried' city

Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency after the snow left people trapped in their homes and drivers stranded on roadways.

Dan Fasan and Mike Szedlak work for the Windsor engineering firm Brave Control Solutions, which works with Ford Motor Co. in Buffalo.

"Monday we finished at the plant, went for dinner and everything was fine here, it looked alright," said Fasanin a Skype interview Wednesday afternoon. "We went to bed and it was thundering, lightning ... woke up at about six o'clock in the morning and there was about three feet of snow on the ground."

They didn't know if they should go into work, until they saw a news report thatroads wereclosed and people were being told to stay indoors.

Food was scarce because the stores weren't open.

"Dinner was popcorn, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches," said Szedlak. "They supplied all this at the hotel."

Szedlak said some people at the hotel tried to venture out on Tuesday and they didn't return for hours.

"The corner store right here is maybe a two minute walk and we didn't see them for two and a half hours," said Szedlack. "So that kind of tells us that we want to bunk down here and stay put."

But the pair said it's quite different in downtown Buffalo, about a 20-minute drive away from West Seneca where they're staying.

"They have no snow and we're right in the heart of it, and we've got like four feet of snow right now," said Fasan. "Just ridiculous."

He said they were hopingto be able to return home before another storm Wednesday night but they could not.

Both men said having such a massive amount of snow fall within days was almost surreal.

"I've never seen four feet of snowfall in this short amount of time ... this is the first time I've ever seen anything like that," said Fasan. "It's so quiet, there's nobody around, no cars. Even if there's cars there you couldn't see them because they're buried under snow."

A new blast of lake-effect snow began pounding Buffalo on Thursday, piling more misery on a city already buried by an epic, deadly snowfall that could leave some areas with almost 2 metresof snow on the ground when it's all done.

Those living in the Buffalo area were already buried under as much as 1.7 metres of snow Wednesday, and they awoke Thursday to more heavy snow that could bring 30 to 90 centimetres more.

"It is an extraordinary situation," Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters after touring the region Wednesday and talking to truckers who had been stranded more than 24 hours on the Thruway. "It will get worse before it gets better."