Biden sends federal aid as Buffalo digs out from weekend ‘epic snow event’
Joe Biden is sending federal aid to western New York to help state and local authorities clean up from the massive storm that dumped as much as six feet of snow in western and northern parts of the state, the White House announced on Monday.
The emergency declaration authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief in 11 counties hit by the lakeeffect snowstorm on Friday and Saturday.
The New York governor, Kathy Hochul, thanked Biden for granting her request for emergency aid, after she called on the national guard to help clear what she called an “epic snow event” in which the early season storm dumped what is typically a month’s worth of snow over the weekend.
The National Weather Service recorded 77in by Saturday in Orchard Park, home to the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, and 72in in Natural Bridge, a hamlet near Watertown off the eastern end of Lake Ontario.
The storm forced the Bills to move Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns to Detroit. More snow fell overnight on Sunday in some areas, but it stopped by daybreak on Monday. Schools remain closed.
The snowstorm was the worst in New York state since November 2014, when some communities south of Buffalo were hit with seven feet of snow over the course of three days.