CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (Video above: WKBW via CNN) —

As a deadly and historic blizzard barreled through Erie County, New York, last weekend, some residents found themselves in a dire scenario — stranded in howling snow with nowhere to go, their cars dwindling in gas supply with police unable to come to the rescue.

Among those trapped last Friday was Jay Withey, a mechanic in the town of Cheektowaga who had ventured out to help a trapped friend, but instead got caught in the snow himself. Over the course of the night, he would be turned away by several people he begged for help, eventually committing a final act of desperation to save himself and more than 20 others from the brutal storm.

His night began at 6 p.m. when he got a call from a friend who had become stuck in the quickly mounting snow.

"He said I'm the only person he knew that would come over so I figured I would go get him," Withey said.

Withey drove toward his friend, weaving between abandoned vehicles that littered the road. Suddenly, he saw a young man named Mike walking in sneakers and wrapped in a light jacket. He told Mike to hop in the truck to escape the cold.

As he drove past snow drifts several feet tall, Withey said, his truck became stuck twice. The first time, he was able to shovel his way out, but the second time felt hopeless.

"I'm trying to dig myself out, but the snow is coming down just as fast as I'm shoveling," he said. With his clothes soaking wet and only a quarter of a tank of fuel left, Withey started to grow concerned.

'I'm fearing for my life'

Leaving Mike in the truck, he began knocking on the doors of houses lining the street to see if anyone would give them shelter.

Withey said he went to 10 households, offering each $500 to spend the night on their floor. All of them turned him away. "I plead with them, 'Please, please can I sleep on the floor, I'm in fear for my life,' and they say, 'No I'm sorry'," he said.

Feeling defeated, Withey tried to walk back to his truck but became lost in the blustery wind and thick snow.

"My vision is getting foggy, my body is cramping up, and I'm fearing for my life," he said.

Finally, he saw a light glint in the distance, the same blinking light he remembered parking his truck next to.

After marching back to the truck, Withey called the police but was told that due to the dangerous storm conditions, they couldn't come to rescue him, he said. He also learned that the friend who had called him for help had been rescued by authorities.

With the gas running precariously low, Withey was concerned, but tired, so he tried to take a nap.

At around 11 p.m., he heard a knock at the car window and opened the door to find Mary, an elderly woman who said she had been stuck in her car since 4 p.m. and needed help. He told her to get in the truck, too.

'I didn't leave until I made sure everyone was OK'

By the next morning, Withey's truck had run out of gas, leaving the trio to huddle in Mary's van, which was also running low on fuel.

Eventually, Mary needed to use the bathroom. It was then that Withey, sensing she felt embarrassed, looked at his phone's GPS and noticed that a school — EDGE Academy — was nearby, he said.

"I say, 'I'm going to that school, and I'm going to break into that school, because I know they have heat and a bathroom,'" he said.

Using an extra set of brake pads, Withey smashed through a window of the school so he could open the front door and let Mike and Mary in, with the security alarm blaring.

"I walk outside in the immediate area and there are a lot of older people that are stranded in their cars," Withey said. "One person had a dog, and I get them all into the school. At this point, I have about 10 people in the school." He estimated their ages ranged between 20s and 70s.

With the group settled in the school, Withey scavenged for cereal and apples in the cafeteria, managed to turn off the alarm, and found mats in the gym for everyone to sleep on.

"Everyone is just so happy to be in the school and to be warm and have food," he said.

On Christmas morning, Withey and the others were able to use snow blowers from the janitor's closet to free their cars from the mounds of snow.

'I had to do it to save everyone'

Withey, who describes himself as a religious man, said he views the whole ordeal as a blessing in disguise. If just one person had taken him up on his plea for shelter that night, he would not have saved all those people, he said.

One man who turned him away saw Withey snow blowing the cars and approached him in tears to apologize, saying he couldn't sleep that night knowing he had denied Withey shelter.

Withey stayed at the school until 8 p.m. on Christmas. "I didn't leave until I made sure everyone was OK," he said, adding that they started a group chat to stay in touch.

Before he left, he made sure to leave a note apologizing for the break-in, which police found when they were eventually able to respond to the alarm Withey set off when he entered the school.

"To whomever it may concern, I'm terribly sorry about breaking the school window and for breaking in the kitchen," it read. "Got stuck at 8 pm Friday and slept in my truck with two strangers, just trying not to die," it continued. "There were 7 elderly people also stuck and out of fuel. I had to do it to save everyone and get them shelter and food and a bathroom." He signed the letter, "Merry Christmas Jay."

Cheektowaga Police were able to find Withey with the public's help after sharing his note and surveillance camera images.

Police Chief Brian Gould told CNN that Withey was in a section of town that they were having a hard time getting to. The chief called Withey's actions heroic and an example of the sense of community among people in the area.

"We were absolutely shocked to see that he had over 20 people in the school (and) two dogs," he said.

"Not only a heroic action, but just an overall good person." "He definitely saved some lives that day," Gould said.

On a cold, dark February night, the work for Helio Cabral has only just started—the latest in a series of long days that this plow driver has worked this year as Mother Nature continues to pummel most of the country with snow.

"I don't call it snow removal; I call it snow management," Cabral said as he maneuvered his pickup truck around a snowbank.

As a plow driver, Cabral relies on those big winter storms to make a living. But getting roads cleared of snow and ice can be a pretty dangerous job.

Cabral is often driving during the heart of any given snowstorm, which dramatically decreases visibility.

"It is [easy] to get into an accident," he added.

That’s where Anuj Sharma comes in. He’s a transportation researcher at Iowa State University and is trying to better equip plow drivers to navigate roads during white-out conditions.

The goal is to clear the roads as soon as possible and make sure there are no unexpected delays and improve the safety of the roadways.

Sharma’s team is in the process of collecting mountains of GPS data from plow drivers. The hope is to eventually build plows that are a bit more autonomous. Trucks can tell where road lanes are even if a driver can’t see the road, so snow removal can happen even in the worst conditions.

"Can we operate the snowplow when visibility is very low and can we keep cleaning the roads?" Sharma noted.

This could also help states be more efficient during snowstorms. Snow removal is an incredibly expensive process for states nationwide. Michigan spends about $40 million a year on snow removal. In Ohio, it costs about $50 million to plow roads, and Colorado spends about $70 million each year to keep roads clear.

"When winter hits, the first thing you hope is that the roads are clear. As soon as the snow stops, you want to go out of the house and have the roads cleared somehow," Sharma said about the study.

Even if you don’t live in a state that typically gets snow, the research Sharma and his team are doing could help plow drivers at places like airports, which could decrease the number of flight delays and cancellations that are often so frequent during the winter.

"For the snowplow drivers, if they don’t do their jobs, it's the rest of us who are left waiting."

More than 3,700 flights in and out of the East Coast are already canceled Friday, ahead of the major winter storm expected Saturday.

The Weather Channel is forecasting Winter Storm Kenan will bring up to two feet of snow in some areas, including Boston.

As of Friday afternoon, FlightAware reported 94% of flights out of Boston Logan International were canceled.

Boston Logan is a hub for JetBlue and Delta.

Rhode Island T.F. Green International out of Providence, R.I. had the same number of cancelations.

LaGuardia Airport in New York followed close behind with 93% of flights canceled.

Delta, JetBlue and United Airlines have issued travel waivers to passengers affected by the East Coast storm.

They can rebook their flights without paying the fare difference.

Amtrak has also canceled several Saturday train service lines, including routes between Boston and New York, and Washington, D.C. and Boston.

Service between Boston and New York will be limited.

Amtrak said it will waive change and cancelation fees.

Snow is expected to taper off by Sunday morning in much of the Northeast, the Weather Channel reports.