An American woman has opened up about her terrifying ordeal after she and her two children got trapped in their car in heavy snow during the recent deadly blizzards.
Dozens of people have died and millions forced to shelter from snow after winter storms tore across the United States over the festive period.
The seventh wonder of the world, Niagara Falls, which usually features among the world's most stunning sites, has become a winter wasteland thanks to the worst weather disaster in a lifetime.
Some of the fiercest weather was seen in the city of Buffalo in New York State, where hurricane-force winds and blizzards caused whiteout conditions that left emergency response efforts paralysed and some vehicles stranded.
Jessica Sypniewski, 33, and her two children, aged seven and 11, left their home in the devastated city to pick up her boyfriend's sister and partner from across town but their journey turned to a cry for help after getting stranded in snowdrifts and eventually spending the night in a department store thanks to "life-saving" employees.
In an interview with Today, Jessica said: "We were picking up my boyfriend’s sister and her boyfriend, on our way back home, we got stranded in the Target plaza out of coincidence.
"We were scared of snow drifts, so we went into the grocery store because they were still open. But they didn’t let us stay there."
The family then returned to their car for another 40 minutes before they could not bear the freezing temperatures any longer and searched for viable shelter.
She added: "I saw a line of cars with their four-way flashers on outside Target. I banged on the door (of the store) and they let us in.
"I was holding my son and one of the employees walked toward me and he threw a blanket on me."
They were not the only ones to be stranded by the Arctic blasts as 22 people were gathered inside the department store alongside Jessica's family, where the employees ensure the guest visitors had hot drinks from Starbucks and kept sufficiently warm.
Other family members offered to pick them up but the weather conditions made it impossible to reach the main road due to the snowdrifts.
Jessica concluded: "People died in their cars and that was my worst fear. If the snow drifts come over us, there were a million things running through my head at the time."
On Christmas Eve, the family were picked up by friends from their temporary living arrangements after Target employees created a path to the main road by the store.
