Holiday travelers are trapped in an Iceland airport because snow-covered roads prevented them from getting to their hotels — or out of the country

• Travelers are stuck in an Icelandic airport after a blizzard dumped snow on the country.
• Stranded travelers couldn't even get to nearby hotels to wait out flight cancelations.

Holiday travelers have been trapped in an Icelandic airport after weekend blizzards left them unable to make it home — or even to their hotels — as streets and highways piled high with snow.

Keflavík International Airport, southwest of Iceland's capital of Reykjavík, all but shut down on Saturday when extreme weather dumped feet of snow on the country. Dozens of flights were canceled because of the storm, and the airport is working on a backlog of delays to get passengers to their final destinations.

"Our team have worked tirelessly throughout the night to rebook passengers on new flights, and they will continue to do this today," Icelandair said in an update Wednesday morning. "It is our absolute priority to get passengers to where they need to be before Christmas."

Airlines, including Icelandair and easyJet, offered hotel accommodations and reimbursements for their stranded customers at Keflavik Airport, but because of the deluge of snow on roads — including the 30-mile highway that connects Keflavik to Reykjavík — passengers couldn't even get to their hotels, the Independent reported. And according to NBC News, many hotels nearby were already fully booked over the weekend.

Photos posted to Twitter show stranded travelers sleeping on luggage belts and the floor because they couldn't get to hotels.

The highway was cleared as of Tuesday, and flights out of the airport have resumed with delays, according to a statement from Icelandair.

And while easyJet said it will operate extra flights between Keflavik and the UK starting on Thursday, passengers have voiced their frustrations over conditions at the airport following the storm.

Keflavík Airport, easyJet, and Icelandair did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

Passengers are frustrated by the lack of communication from the airlines

Travelers told NBC News that there was little access to food and almost no communication from the airlines during the days they were stuck at the airport.

Despite multiple warnings from The Icelandic Meteorological Office, Iceland's government, and The Foreign Office, passengers told NBC that the airlines seemed under-prepared and barely communicated through the chaotic weekend of cancelations.

"I understand that weather factors can affect things but I think the lack of preparation and foresight ... You should have never let people come here knowing the forecast," Tom Stirling, 43, who was stranded at the airport with his wife and two sons, told NBC News.

Ryan Stevens, a traveler from London who is still stuck in Iceland, told Insider that Icelandair poorly handled the situation.

Stevens, who originally planned to fly back to Gatwick via Keflavik on easyJet on Monday, said he "kind of knew there could be issues" with the amount of snow Iceland faced, "but hoped that all would be well by the time Monday came."

"I thought that Iceland would be prepared for this weather, so you would presume everything would still run like clockwork. Boy, I was wrong," Stevens told Insider.

Stevens said "Reykjavik was snowed under" and called the capital city "one big ice rink."

Stevens said he was on his way to the airport on Monday morning after a late-night Northern Lights tour when he heard his flight with easyJet was canceled. He said he made the choice to get a refund for that flight and booked a flight with Icelandair the next day along with a hotel room for the night.

Although the flight cost him an additional 400 euros, he thought going with a national airline over the low-cost easyJet was a good move and said he "was willing to forfeit the money to ensure I was home by Christmas."

His Tuesday flight was also canceled, and when Icelandair didn't have any updates for him, he booked another hotel room for that night.

"I received a generic email saying basically, 'We're working on it.' Tried to call. All phones still off. Chat feature offline. I'm stressing because again what do I do about accommodation?" Stevens said.

Stevens said he eventually booked himself on a flight on Christmas Eve — the "earliest flight I could get." He said once he heard what easyJet was doing to get passengers home, he wished he had stuck with the budget airline.

Stevens is out 1,500 euros due to three nights in a hotel and two additional booked flights and said he hasn't heard anything about reimbursements or assistance.

"I'm lucky, I didn't go to the airport. I'm not stuck there. But I don't know what to do," Stevens told Insider. "Nobody can blame airlines for cancellations, but the aftercare after such an event needs to be handled better. I'm stuck. No idea what next move is. No support whatsoever."