National Guard bans Buffalo residents from streets amid blizzard, blackouts, looting, 35 dead

The winter storm has resulted in dozens dead, mass blackouts, and rampant looting, as officials struggle to contain the situation.

According to WYRK, on Tuesday the New York State National Guard announced that they would be sending at least 100 military police officers to the Buffalo area to enforce the city's driving ban.

The officers will be stationed at various main intersections, and have the authority to charge motorists who break the rules with class B misdemeanors, or even impound their vehicles.

"I was very clear in saying to people in Buffalo through a variety of different mediums that Thursday would be the last day that you could drive safely," Mayor Byron Brown said, according to WIVB4, adding that the ban was put in place to make it easier for emergency vehicles to get where they needed to go.

"The act of driving during a blizzard, during zero visibility and whiteout conditions, as you can surmise, made the emergency response much more difficult and much more complicated," Brown explained.

"You can absolutely go out and walk to check on neighbors, go to open stores, etc. But do not drive," Eerie County Executive Mark Poloncarz warned residents via Twitter.

As the Daily Mail reports, there have been several reports of looting at businesses across the city, with police unable to make arrests due to weather conditions and priority being given to assisting with traffic events.

"We've been able to throughout the storm transition our patrol officers to get back [to] their patrol efforts," Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said, "while we have our search and rescue recovery teams that are going out and doing the very difficult work of recovering bodies."

Bodies have been discovered underneath snow drifts, in cars on the side of the road, and inside homes, many of which were left without heating as the result of blackouts.