WASHINGTON, Dec 27 (Reuters): US President Joe Biden authorized federal support for New York state on Monday after a severe winter storm left at least 27 people dead in the Buffalo area and tens of thousands of residents without power, the White House said in a statement.
At least 60 lives have been lost in weather-related incidents nationwide, according to an NBC News tally, from an arctic deep freeze and sprawling storm front that extended over most of the United States for days, as far south as the Mexican border.
The larger storm system has wreaked havoc with travel across the country over the holiday weekend, stranding passengers as thousands of flights were canceled. The greater Buffalo region, on the edge of Lake Erie near the Canadian border, was hardest hit.
Nearly 50 inches (1.27 meters) of snow was measured at Buffalo Airport as of Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Although blinding winds that created white-out conditions for more than two days had abated by Monday, snow kept coming down, with accumulations of up to a foot (30 cm) more forecast through Tuesday in areas south of Buffalo and north of Syracuse.
