by Connor Ennis Associated Press Writer
BUFFALO,
N.Y. (AP) -- Hundreds of school children were forced to spend
Monday night at supermarkets, restaurants and community centers
after a powerful storm paralyzed the city with 2 feet of snow.
About 2,000
students were expected to be stranded all night, authorities estimated.
School officials stressed that all children were safe and being
cared for, but some parents were frantic.
''I'm calling
everybody I know and everybody's phone is busy,'' said Gregory
Ipolito, who was trying to locate his 8-year-old son and 11-year-old
daughter six hours after they boarded separate school buses to
go home Monday afternoon. He knew his children would be dropped
off at a safe place, but he did not know where.
''I just want
to know where the heck they are,'' said Ipolito, himself stranded
at The Buffalo News, where he works in advertising. ''I've never
not known where they are. Now I don't know where both of them
are at the same time so that's double anxiety.''
Some 25 inches
of snow fell Monday, the third-highest total for any 24-hour period
in the history of this winter-hardened city. More than 40 inches
have fallen this month.
With streets
blocked by abandoned and stuck cars and buses, Mayor Anthony Masiello
declared a state of emergency and said driving would be banned
after midnight, effectively shutting down the city for business
Tuesday.
''The problem
is getting our snow plows out,'' Masiello said. ''The problem
we're having is the same problem the motorists are having.''
School bus
drivers were told to take children to the nearest public building,
including supermarkets, City Hall, hospitals, restaurants and
government offices. It took hours for buses to inch their way
through the snow and deliver the children.
Some children
never left school and were fed dinner under the care of teachers.
Day care workers had their hands full with children who could
not be retrieved by their parents.
''We're waiting
for dinner, spaghetti,'' said Katrina Clark, a teachers aide at
the Hickory Dickory Dockery center in Buffalo, where more than
50 children were stranded. ''They're humming, they're singing,
they have books. They're having a ball.''
Buffalo is
famous for its heavy snow, the result of cold air absorbing warmer
moisture as it blows across Lake Erie. A storm dumped 14 inches
on the city Saturday.
The latest
storm began just as the morning rush hour ended, falling at 2
to 3 inches per hour and shutting down Buffalo Niagara International
Airport by 3 p.m.
Cars were
buried in parking lots. Workers who tried to get home in the afternoon
found themselves stuck in gridlock and many gave up and returned
to offices, leaving their cars behind.
With her black
coat pulled tight around her and her body bent against the oncoming
snow, Cheryl Rogowski couldn't help but question herself as she
walked through downtown to visit her 11-month-old son at day care
during lunch.
''What am
I doing out here?'' Rogowski asked with a laugh. ''I'm crazy.''
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