Man rescued after 10 hours trapped in his car under 4ft of snow

A man has been rescued after his car was buried under 4ft (1.2m) of snow in a severe storm in upstate New York, leaving him stranded in freezing temperatures for more than 10 hours.

New York State police sergeant Jason Cawley contacted Tioga County 911 on Thursday to see if any emergency calls were pending.

He was told they had received multiple calls from a man stranded when his car was run off the road by a truck and buried under heavy snow from Storm Gail.

However, numerous officers had visited the scene and been unable to locate the vehicle.

Sgt Cawley drove to the section of State Route 17C in the town of Owego, and searched the area himself.

But he also did not find the driver.

However, while driving, he saw a row of mailboxes and waded through the snow to check the addresses.

While digging, he hit the windshield of a car and found 58-year-old Kevin Kresen, from Candor, inside.

Mr Kresen was stranded with no heat and was suffering from hypothermia and frostbite.

He was removed from the vehicle and taken to Lourdes hospital for treatment.

Storm Gail has brought minus temperatures and record amounts of snow to America’s east coast.

The first snow storm of the season buried parts of upstate New York under more than 3ft (1m) of snow on Thursday and left plow drivers struggling to clear the roads as it piled up at more than 4in an hour.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for 18 counties and warned people to stay off the roads.

He said there were more than 9,000 power outages, 600 accidents and two fatalities by midmorning Thursday.

Heavy snowfall also hit across Maryland and Pennsylvania, with places like Boston in Massachusetts and Washington DC also heavily impacted.