it's the top of the hour on "cnn newsroom." i'm pamela brown, and we begin the hour with a travel nightmare. thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed across the country today. the hardest hit, southwest airlines, which has scrapped more than 60% of its flights. take a look here. these are some of the long lines of southwest passengers in raleigh, atlanta, and denver airports. in a statement to cnn, southwest airlines said it is, quote, experiencing disruptions across our network as a result of the winter storm's lingering effects on the totality of our operations. carlos suarez is on the southwest side of the terminal. what are you seeing? what are you hearing from

passengers? >> reporter: well, pamela, i'm hearing a great deal of frustration from a good number of passengers who are stranded, and are flying southwest airlines or at least they were hoping to today. the airport here in atlanta has seen well over 200 canceled flights and a majority of those flights have come from southwest airlines. the airline has canceled 64% of its flights out of atlanta. this line here behind me are passengers that are on board one of these canceled flights. we're going to take a bit of a walk so you can get a sense of just how long this line is. we're just on the other side of the terminal where as you can imagine people have been waiting for hours to see if they're going to be able to get booked on another flight. the line, it goes all the way down the southwest airlines terminal. it wraps up to the other side, and just about everyone that we've talked to out here has been in this line for anywhere between two to three hours. now when we're talking about the overall number of canceled

flights across the u.s., well, you can imagine that number at this hour is in the thousands, with thousands more flights being delayed. now we caught up with one passenger who made this line here for this southwest airlines flight. she had some pretty harsh words for that airline, and here's what she told us. >> i have lots of thoughts, maybe not camera-appropriate. we have been standing in line for hours. canceled flight yesterday. i feel like we have been led on, you know, so we know there's staffing issues from storm elliott. we get that, the ripple effect, but then when you are trying to rebook, right, when you call the line that they asked you to call, it hangs up on you. you call again, it has a dial tone like the number doesn't exist, and then you call again and you get through, and you're on the hold for three or four hours. i did that last night, this morning. this is -- it's just ridiculous. >> reporter: and you can kind of tell just how long these passengers have been in line. if you take a look at their cell

phones because a lot of them are on hold, and so when you look down at their phones, you can see how long they have been waiting for someone to pick up their call. again, this line goes all the way around to the other side. these folks, not quite sure when they're going to get out. some of the folks we talked to earlier today told us that the earliest the airline was telling them might be thursday. pamela? >> oh my goodness. not only did they have to pack their bags, but pack their patience. carlos suarez, thank you so much. let's bring in lynn month gopry. she's the president of twu which represents southwest airlines flight attendants. the airline as we said has canceled more than 60% of its flights today. what can you tell us about this? >> well, i was just listening to the customer -- the southwest airlines customer that you were speaking with, and i am so sorry that that is happening to her. the same thing is happening to southwest airlines flight attendants and flight crews. the phone systems that the company uses is just not working. they're just not manned with enough manpower in order to give

the scheduling changes to flight attendants, and that's created a ripple effect that is creating chaos throughout the nation. >> right, because it also seems like the issue is not just the winter storm, right? it seems like there's a bigger issue with staffing. i mean, a plane can't take off without staff, right? >> this is not a staffing issue. this is a systems issue. southwest airlines was staffed. its employees were ready to go to work, but when they chose to take flights into the middle of the storm or not plan to cancel enough flights, their systems have not been able to keep up with the rescheduling, the cancellations, the notification to crew members about those cancellations and changes in flights. we have had flight attendants on hold for up to 12, 17 hours in some cases, and unable to get hotel rooms. they have been sleeping in airports, and we've also had

issues with being booked, rebooking. there were some issues with the rebooking systems. this is a systems failure led by the executive leadership at southwest airlines and it's time they make it right. >> how do they make it right exactly? >> well, bob jordan today -- yesterday actually sent a message to all employees talking about -- talking about the systems, modernizing the systems and needing to do that. we need more than just talking about that. we need to see an action plan of what southwest airlines is going to do to make sure that it can operate under a regular operations during inclement weather, storms, hurricanes, or they should make better decisions when choosing to cancel flights. we all hate to cancel flights. nobody wants to cancel a flight. we all need to get where we need to go, but if you cannot handle it and the result is that thousands of people, including customers and crew are going to be waiting hours and hours on end to find out what to do, then

you should cancel pre-emptively. >> you mentioned bob jordan. he's the ceo of southwest airlines. lyn montgomery, thank you for coming on and sharing the plight of the passengers and the flight attendants and crew. thank you. we did reach out to southwest airlines for an interview. the airline company has been responding to customers on twitter, and southwest says it is trying to reaccommodate as many customers as possible whose itineraries have been disrupted. we have a former commercial airline pilot and training instructor. so let's dive into this here. how widespread are the delays for southwest? just how bad is this? >> well, it's unfortunate for southwest because they are leading the delays and mostly those cancellations, and they have been all week. we don't want to pick on southwest. they're one of my favorite carriers. they have such great leeway for people who use their tickets.

they give you up to ten minutes before departure to cancel. one of the issues with them though is they are more of a short haul carrier, short and medium range, so that means they have a lot of what we call turnaround times. in other words, on a given day on average their jets are making more flights because they're sh shorter. those turnaround times bog things down. you're not making money or efficient when you are on the ground and that has helped to slow them down unfortunately just because of the route structure that they have. >> so does that explain the full picture of why southwest airlines has been disproportionately impacted? because look, all the airlines have having to deal with the storm, right? clearly things are worse at southwest. >> that's right. it's also hit a lot of their bases and a lot of where they have a lot of activity on the west coast. denver, that sort of thing, but again, as more of a short to medium haul carrier, that means the shorter flights, it's these turnaround times that are really hurting the airlines and with

staffing. trying to get people to the airport in this storm system that we have had, people calling in sick because they are sick, people calling in sick, let's be honest, sometimes because it's the holidays, and also because of the brutal working conditions. when you are an hourly employee out on that ramp getting maybe $17 an hour and a few benefits because a lot of the ramp workers don't work for airlines. they work for contractors. it's tough in these conditions when it's below zero windchill to be slinging bags and that sort of ning slows everything d. they have great customer and they're trying their best, but i think all the carriers will once again be reviewing their battle plans after we get through this holiday season. >> i think that's a good way to look at it. me in the meantime though, weather is getting better, and southwest assumes everything will get back

on track shortly. when do you think that's going to happen? i mean, these poor people who as we heard from carlos, they're being told you may not be able to fly out until thursday. >> that's the issue is all the flights are booked, and when they try to book people onto christmas eve and christmas day flights because normally those are light days just like new year's eve and new year's day is light, unfortunately they just didn't have the capacity for it. so we do have some good weather coming. not on the west coast. i'm in washington state right now. we're going to have horrible weather later today. it's going to hit a lot of the west coast, but the rest of the country, the weather is mostly going to be improving. we're going to see much, much warmer temperatures across, like, denver, you know, up maybe even 50 degrees. that's going to help, you know, desnarl things in the system. part of the issue has been a customer service thing. people can't wait. we see on the social media. people waiting five, six, eight hours to try to talk to someone. so i do think the airlines once again, they were so well prepared at thanksgiving. the weather was great. everything went well. the storm of this magnitude is

something. if we look back to february 3rd, that was the record holder for cancellations in 2023. we've now surpassed that. 23% of all flights were canceled thursday. we have had more cancellations today than yesterday, so yes. i think everybody is going to be looking at how can we improve this, but again, it's tough when you get these really, really intense weather systems that don't just affect the airlines. we want to keep things running safely, you know, let's remember safety is paramount, but it's also hard for those ground workers to not only get to work, but also to do their job. >> yeah. i think that's a really, really important point, and as you said, they work for third party contractors. so, you know, there's a lot of different factors at play. kathleen bangs, thank you for giving us the whole picture. we appreciate it. this monster winter storm has now killed at least 47 people nationwide, and its snow and freezing conditions have also forced a major government response. southern cities are opening warming centers. in jackson, mississippi, residents must boil its water

after the cold likely damaged its system, but nowhere is the storm devastation felt more than the buffalo area, referred to as ground zero by officials. more than half of these weather-related deaths occurred there, and rescuers who are already -- they have already experienced record snowfall, they had to be rescued themselves. the local sheriff expects the death toll will rise now that the winds have eased. >> it is a first responder, it's gut wrenching to have a situation where you're unable -- unable to respond to emergency calls, medical calls. we had zero visibility which was compounded by the amount of snow. it was the worst i've ever seen. when you have 420 ems calls that are unanswered, it's just gut wrenching. >> cnn's polo sandoval is in buffalo.

they called this the blizzard of the century and said the weather dangers are far from over. >> reporter: yeah, we rode it out in shelter, the whole thing, pamela. it's absolutely true. in terms of just the heartbreak we've seen here, we've heard from byron brown earlier this afternoon and just describing just the tragic and heartbreaking nature of the job and the duty that the officers are carrying out here in buffalo, and that's going door to door or one stranded car to another, or finding people who sadly did not survive. the storm-related deaths here right now, 25. there is concern here on the grun ground that number will continue to rise. as they're focusing on potential rescue, they are focusing on keeping the streets clear. they're not doing it across the board. it's a calculated approach from city officials. the plow trucks on the streets that lead in and out of some of the medical facilities for example, some of the main arteries as well to allow

firefighters and other personnel to actually get to any potential calls, be you as you're about to hear from one of the officials we've heard from here recently, basically stressing that point, that driving ban is still in place. unless it's an emergency or essential, there should be no cars on these streets. >> we are asking people to stay off the roads. the buffalo police have literally in a variety of different ways, provided hundreds of rescues and have rescued many stranded motorists in the city of buffalo. in some of the circumstances, some of these people might not have survived. >> that's mayor byron brown. let's talk power outages quickly. yesterday, households in the buffalo area were in the dark. as of the last hour and a half or so, about half of those are back online.

there is progress here. now we need that snow to stop. >> that is a good point. polo sandoval thank you so much. joining me now is mark polencars. you said 25 people have died from this blizzard. has that number risen? >> at this time, we have confirmed through our deputy of health and medical examiner's office 25 deaths. we are expecting more as the medical examiner confirms the cases after the bodies are brought into the hospital. so we, unfortunately, do expect that number will rise. last night we had 13 deaths. i had to announce the additional 12 for the county, and as we're going around, now that the weather is finally allowing us to get out there and check into cars and to check into homes of people we have not heard from for some time, we unfortunately expect to find more bodies. it was a horrible situation, the

worst storm we've ever seen, and we're starting to see the death toll rise. >> it's just awful, and the governor described this snowstorm as unprecedented. give us your perspective on this. how has it tested you all in new ways? i mean, you're used to snow up there, but not like this. >> yeah. it wasn't that long ago we had a little over 7 feet of snow that fell in the south towns of erie county just south of the city of buffalo, and we were reopened after two days. we can handle snow, but this was a true blizzard in which you had not only heavy snows constantly, but whiteout conditions and extreme winds. hurricane-force winds of over 75 miles an hour that continued for hours on end. it's the first time any of us can remember situations where we felt truly helpless. we were trying to send equipment and personnel out at the height of the storm, but they were getting stuck and we had to send specialized rescue crews out to

rescue the rescuers. i was alive in 1977. i was 9 years old then. that is considered the worst storm in buffalo history. w we now unfortunately have more deaths than the blizzard of '77, and it was a storm i hope no one ever has to go through elsewhere. >> going down the history books in all the wrong ways. there have been stories though we should note of joy to come out of these dire conditions. tell us about a pregnant woman your teams came across. >> well, there's been a lot of incredible stories of bravery and sacrifice by many, but there was a pregnant woman who was -- went to one of our best hospitals, but her condition was such that she needed to go to the children's and women's hospital. so our team, partners in the public marks were able to dig a path from the one hospital to the other so she could be taken to that women's and children's hospital, and thankfully everything appears to be good

for mom and baby. the birth was successful and it was a great story, in an otherwise very difficult situation. >> wow. what a story that is. thank you to all the rescue workers who helped with that, and just have gone above and beyond over the holiday weekend and today to help rescue people. mark poloncarz, thank you. a fourth substation is vandalized in washington state leaving thousands without power on christmas. what investigators have uncovered, next. and migrants gathered at the border are facing frigid temperatures and seeking shelter from the severe weather. we are live in el paso, texas just ahead. tible subs. the most epic sandwich roroster ever created. ♪ it's subway's biggest refresh yet! ♪ what will you do? ♪ what will you change? ♪ will you makesomethin?

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for 14,000 customers in tacoma, washington on christmas day after attacks on local energy subst substations. officials say the suspects vandalized power equipment at three stations and caused a fire at the fourth location. cnn's josh campbell joins us now. so josh, these attacks follow other incidents of vandalism at power hubs in southern washington and oregon last month. what more do we know about this? >> reporter: that's right, pamela. this is serious. we have been talking about these widespread power outages across the country due to inclement weather, but authorities here in washington state belief that this massive power outage in tacoma, just south of seattle on christmas day was intentional, believing that these four power substations were vandalized. as you mentioned, that leading to 14,000 people without power. now at this hour, police continued to investigate. they have not made any arrests. they have not indicated what the potential motive is, but they did speak to give us an update about what they found when they arrived at these scenes as well as how the investigation is proceeding. take a listen. >> the suspects cut one of the

locks on the fenced areas. they made their way inside and caused damage to the substation which ultimately knocked out power for a large amount of rez d -- residents in the county. all three happened on christmas day causing power outages. nothing was stolen from any of those facilities, and that's a good possibility they are related. we are aware of other incidents that occurred in oregon and southern washington as well as from north carolina this wintertime. so that's what we're looking into. >> now to your critical point, pamela, the sergeant there mentioning these other incidents that they are reviewing. of course, we know in washington state last month, there were two other attacks against these substations and as we have been reporting extensively in north carolina last month, thousands of people were left for days without power after a suspect or group of suspects shot up two substations. authorities there in washington state say they're working to determine if there's any type of activity there is. we have been reporting the

department of homeland security and the fbi have been warning that violent domestic extremists have urged their followers to conduct these exact type of incidents, going so far as to write online about how their supporters can go after these so-called soft targets. very serious situation there in washington state. of course, as we mentioned, investigators continue to look into that to determine if that is any correlation to these other incidents we have been reporting on for the last couple of months, pamela. >> all right. josh campbell, thanks so much. here to discuss the international security analyst, on the heels of the last report, the arrests haven't been made in washington. for whoever is responsible, and the same in north carolina. tell us about the challenges in investigating these incidents and how law enforcement investigates them. >> well, one of the challenges is, of course, just when they're happening at night under, you know, they're sabotaging, and people coming in and out. they don't have to really enter the facilities. they can be on the outside, at

least what we saw in north carolina. they're sort of like drivebyes or fly byes in the way these are happening quickly, and these places aren't protecte as we ma want it to be. there's a lot of noise about doing this. there's not one person saying, we're going to go after these facilities. this is now part of a concerted effort on, in particular, right wing extremist groups to look or go after critical infrastructure. i'm looking at the data from the tacoma area. you don't have four incidents like that happening randomly or coincidentally. this is clearly a concerted effort, and on christmas day when there would be the least amount of help possible as we know is certainly look like a targeted attack. >> right. so just quickly though, i mean, given the national security implications here, how can it be that it could just be a drive-by, fly-by situation as

you put it that could wreak such havoc? it's kind of mind-boggling. >> yeah, it is. i mean, part of it is our critical infrastructure was built at a time when we worried less about this kind of sabotage, intentional sabotage. we worried about climate change and other issues and a lot of these substations are not p protected. you're driving by them all the time and we don't even know it. they're just facilities, so they would be easy to identify. you can identify them either by passing by, and they're not hard to fortify in the sense that you could just use sandbags, higher fencing, other things to protect the facility that may be at risk, and we need to see that focus by the infrastructure facilities at this stage knowing that this kind of sabotage, easy to do, high probability, and relatively in this stage, low consequence. i mean, what's important to remember, these are impacting the people who are harmed by it very, you know, very deeply. i'm not minimizing that, but

it's harder to go after what we would call sort of the heartbeat facilities because those are more fortified. these are impact -- these kind of attacks are impacting 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 people at a time. not an entire city of 6 million people. >> that's important context, but still, the repercussions could be wide ranging and impacting national security. how does law enforcement distinguish between mere vandalism and ideology attacks? i keep hearing the word vandalism, but also by the same token, you heard josh reporting violent domestic extremists are pushing others to do this. >> yeah. >> that police are saying those with ideological beliefs might be behind this. how does that square? >> that is -- josh is exactly right. that is just -- to be clear about this, the attacks or the potential attacks on critical infrastructure are being promoted by the right wing. they see it as a way to show disruption and show power.

they also view it as a way to start a race war. we know that. whether we know that is the reason for this particular attack. that is unclear at this stage. so the authorities are keeping the language at sabotage. which just essentially means some vandalism is organized across a series of critical infrastructure facilities. the motivation of the people we don't know yet, so these two things are existing in parallel at this stage. we will find out soon enough whether they're linked, whether this is linked to a concerted attack in washington. i'll tell you a december 25th attack that's hitting three or four substations is being done to make a statement. this is not, like, some guy goofing off. i, you know, this is just base on my experience. so one can assume that there is some motivation behind it. >> all right, juliet. thank you for offering your perspective and expertise on this. south korea fires off

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company says damage has led to limited usage of the main power grid. three russian soldiers were killed in the response to shooting down of a drone over a key military base. now ukraine is warning its troops of a retaliatory missile strike. tensions are also es calating between china and taiwan. they have crossed the median on the taiwan strait on sunday. china says this was part of a military drill. the south korean defense minister says its military fired at five north korean drones which officials say entered their air space earlier today. south korea can't confirm whether any were shot down. here with me now, cnn global affairs analyst kim dozier. i want to start big picture. just given everything that is going on, the global landscape that we just laid out there,

what's going on here? >> well, you know, all of these are hard national security problems that multiple u.s. administrations have had to deal with, but given the war in ukraine, you can see them through a new light, this idea that russia and china are trying to say to the u.s. and its european allies, you're not going to set out the world order. there is a new world order. we get a say in this, and you can't ignore us. so in that light, you can see china sending the jets into taiwan, staking a claim that even though president biden just signed a huge defense deal that includes new, more sophisticated military aid to taiwan, that china is not giving up on eventually subsuming that country the way it did hong kong. also, you have russia saying -- sorry. north korea saying, we're going to keep spying on the south, even though the u.s. has not

been open to peace talks with us, and the u.s. and south korea have had recent military drills together. >> so you have these provocative acts from north korea, russia, china. as you say, it is their way, perhaps of sending a signal that they are the new power axis. meantime, you have president pu putin saying on state tv that he is ready to negotiate. what is your read on that? >> well, when you look at the disposition of russian troops, what we're hearing is that they're running through their artillery, their missiles faster than they can make them. they're having trouble resupplying on the ground, and they are not making much progress. the ukrainian army continues to keep them on the back foot on a number of different ba battlefronts. that said, countries like germany, there have been factions within germany that have started really warming up to the idea of peace talks and

showing their war fatigue. putin knows this. so by offering peace talks where he has no intention of meeting president zelenskyy's ten-point plan. the president has laid out a plan that includes the russian withdrawal from everything including crimea, putin doesn't intend to withdraw from crimea, but by saying he's open to peace talks, that creates a divide that over time he can start working on and trying to widen between the u.s., ukraine, and some of the urinations that are tir -- european nations that are tired of this war. >> there's a tremendous will. despite these major power outages and frigid temperatures, we saw the resilience of them over the holiday weekend. a huge crowd attending a tree lighting in kyiv. what do you make of these power

grids and these ukrainian people still tstanding strong? >> it's one of the things that makes peace talks at this point not possible from the standpoint of the ukrainian public. they feel in -- when you read their comments on twitter or social media, you can see that the resolve of the public is to continue with this war, and resist any talks that would see them giving up some territory to russia. there's a real visceral hatred of russia that is building with each passing attack, especially on the civilian infrastructure. it's hardening their resolve, not weakening it. >> important point to end on. we'll leave it there. kim dozier, thank you so much. well, major changes on the campus of west point as the academy begins the process of removing all of to its confederate monuments. details on that up next.

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it's subway's biggest refresh yet. well, thousands of migrants have arrived at the border, in anticipation of the decision, title 42. that's the trump-era restriction that allows authorities to turn away migrants at the border. m meantime, in washington, d.c. three bus loads of migrants were dropped off at kamala harris' home christmas eve. in texas, el paso is under a state of emergency due to the influx of asylum seekers. some were forced to sleep outside in the freezing temperatures.

more than 400 migrants were housed at the el paso convention center on christmas weekend. cnn's kamila bernal is in el paso. what are you seeing? >> reporter: we're seeing a lot of families, children, mothers who are going through a very difficult time as many of them like you said are having to sleep out on the streets. right now, of course, the sun is out. a lot of them waiting because they don't necessarily want to stay here in el paso. what they want is to go somewhere where they have maybe a family or a friend that could help them start their life in this country. so in the meantime, a lot of them just hanging out here. they're on this bus because that is the only place where they can warm up, but not just warm up, it is the only place where they can go rest for maybe a few minutes or a few hours. so they're taking turns going in and out of the bus because especially it's the only place

they can go right now. there is a huge backlog of asylum applications. these people say they want to do things the right way, but they are frustrated with the process here in this country. pam? >> all right, camilla bernal. thank you so much. the academy at west point will begin removing confederate symbols and monuments from its campus. these changes approved by lloyd usa. -- austin as part of a larger set of regulations. oren leeiebermann is with us. what will they be doing? >> reporter: there's a list of 13 different items, whether it's street, buildings, houses, signs or quotes that have ties to the confederacy, that either memorialize or commemorate it. in particular, robert e. lee, the commanding general of the confederate army. because of the naming commission, west point will change or remove those in some way. this has been a very long process to get here.

the naming commission was created back in late 2020 and began its work shortly after that, but it first looked at different names for military bases. then it looked at the academies and that's what brought us here to a list of these 13 things that have to be changed or have recommendations to change at west point. in the letter, the superintendent of west point said they would begin work on these and there's a committee set up to find replacement names and do this. there's a port rate of robert e. lee that will be removed, a quote from him, again, building names as well as street names. all of that will be part of this process to remove anything that commemorates or memorializes the confederacy at west point. it's not just west point. we're seeing the military change the names of bases. fort bragg will become fort liberty. benning will become moore. they're working there you this to make sure it doesn't commemorate the confederacy in some way because of the

bipartisan support of the naming commission. this will take time, but we're getting there, and we're seeing that process play out. pamela? >> oren, thank you so much. severe winter weather is not only keeping travelers stuck in transit, but many gifts as well. when you should actually expect your packages to arrive, up next. inspire? no mask? no hose? just sleep. learn more, and view important safetyty informatin at inspiresleep.com lactaid is 100% real milk, just without the lactose. tastes great in our iced coffees too. which makes waking up at 5 a.mto milk the cows a little eier. (moo) mal says for you, it's more like 5:. man: mom, really?

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- life is uncertain. everyday pressures can feel overwhelming it's okay to feel stressed, anxious, worried, or frustrated. it's normal. with calhope's free and secure mental health resources, it's easy to get the help you and your loved ones need when you need it the most. call our warm line at (833) 317-4673 or live chat at calhope.org today. delivery companies including the u.s. postal service, u.p.s., fedex and amazon are warning of weather fuel disruptions for last minute shoppers thanks to the severe winter weather over the holiday weekend. cnn's matt egan joins us now.

how long could the delays last? >> even santa claus is getting delayed by this crazy weather, it's caused total chaos, talking about grounded planes and shuttered package facilities and delivery trucks that can't get back on the roads. even as of today u.p.s. was warning that there will be no package pickup or delivery at almost 900 zip codes across four states, michigan, new york, indiana and ohio. fedex warns of delays through today. the u.s. postal service had to close dozens of post offices and even amazon was forced to shut down some facilities. as far as how long this lasts, it really depends on when everyone is able to dig out, when the infrastructure comes back online, the power, the highways. it's going to take some time, of course, and, you know, in the meantime this is really causing some headaches for a lot of people, especially for those of us who waited until the very last moment to do their christmas shopping and their holiday shopping because all of that stuff is delayed.

pamela, in some cases this has turned those last minute christmas gifts into early new year's gifts. >> i may have been guilty of that for sure. all right. matt egan, thanks so much. a buffalo family spent christmas at a firehouse after they were rescued from their car in the middle of a severe winter storm. but despite all the chaos, santa claus still paid a visit. that story just ahead. and musical icon dionne warwick brings her story to cnn in the new film "don't make me over" it's premiering new year's day at 9:00 p.m. here is a preview. >> dionne warwick one of the great female singers of all time. >> dionne was the first african american woman to win a grammy in the popocatep category. >> the music i was singing was unlike anything anyone was singing. music, pure and simple.

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all ten people who were feared to be buried and missing after an avalanche in austria have been found alive. the avalanche fell sunday afternoon in the open ski area villages. four of the ten skiers have been injured and just one seriously. a final sweep of the area will be completed by the end of the day. one buffalo family's escape from the deep freeze will warm your heart, no doubt. the family of six including four children, ages 9 months to 4 and

8 years old became stranded as they tried to find a hotel. the parents said their home was getting dangerously cold for the kids after losing power. buffalo airport firefighters rescued them all from an impassable road and then invited them to spend christmas at the firehouse. >> santa came. it was very awesome. those guys were amazing at the firehouse. they treated us with nothing but love it was -- they made it a beautiful christmas. "the lead" with jake tapper starts now. ♪ it's being called a, quote, war with mother nature. "the lead" starts right now. more than two dozen people are dead from the horrific blizzard that slammed erie county, new