By
The Associated Press
BUFFALO - The National Guard was sent in yeserday to help the city dig out after a surprise 2-foot snowstorm trapped motorists in their cars and stranded thousands of workers and schoolchildren overnight at offices, supermarkets, City Hall and restaurants.
"It's like an army just came through and just started hitting us with snow, that's how everything looks," said 12-year-old Journey Cooper, one of seven youngsters who spent the night at a hotel. He was anxious to get home yesterday: "I need to get me washed up and get some new clothes on."
Mayor Anthony Masiello declared a state of emergency and banned drivers from the streets to give plows and tow truck crews room to work, urging everyone to "stay out of our city."
Prison inmates on work-release programs were enlisted to dig out fire hydrants, street corners and sidewalks. National Guardsmen used Humvees and other four-wheel-drive vehicles to deliver blankets, water and food.
The Buffalo airport was expected to remain closed most of the day, though 65 miles of the New York State Thruway, which had been closed between Buffalo and Rochester because of blowing snow, was reopened.
Buffalo is accustomed to astonishing amounts of snow from "lake effect" storms, which pick up moisture from Lake Erie. But the timing of this storm - which unloaded 25 inches of snow - caught the city off guard Monday.
The storm hit its peak in the middle of the afternoon. Many businesses sent employees home early, and everyone hit the slippery streets at once.
"It took an hour to move a few steps," said Bonni Cascio, who had to take shelter for the night inside a Holiday Inn lobby.
An estimated 2,000 youngsters got unexpected sleepovers around the city after their buses were halted by the snow and by abandoned cars in the streets.
"They've been warm, they've been well fed, they were a lot happier, I'm sure, than many of you parents were," Superintendent Marion Canedo assured parents.
Two busloads of children spent the night at the local FBI building, and workers went out on snowmobiles to pick up pizzas for them.
As streets were cleared yesterday, buses started taking some children home, but other youngsters remained in shelters.
Monday's snowfall was Buffalo's third-highest total for any 24-hour period. It brought the total so far this month to more than 40 inches, including 14 that fell on Saturday. The city's record is 37.9 inches on a two-day period in December 1995.
Gov. George Pataki declared a state of emergency for Erie County and the city, making state resources available to help with the cleanup.
In Buffalo, Daniel Tobin spent the night under his desk at HSBC Bank. "I'm a little stiff," he said yesterday morning.
''We slept on cots and the coats were our blankets,'' said 5-year-old Alexandra Morgan, who spent the night at the bank's day care center after her school bus got stuck outside.
Jennifer Kingston and Mary Anne Johnson met while they were stranded on a highway off-ramp. They spent the night in Kingston's car and by morning were best of friends.
"We talked for hours. I can tell you anything about her," Kingston said.
Jay Pereira spent the night in his Federal Express truck and was visited by people who offered him food, coffee and the use of their cellular phones. "A lot of people turned out to be really decent folks," he said.
And Gloria Schiabone, who is unable to walk, said a bystander who identified himself only as "Chris or something" carried her from her stuck van to the Holiday Inn lobby, then trudged off to find her a wheelchair.
"It was real nice of him. He didn't have to do that," Schiabone said.
