Snowfall leaves many without power in New York

NEW YORK: An early snow storm caused havoc in western New York state on Friday, with record flurries leaving roads blocked, power lines down and hundreds of thousands without electricity, officials said.

The Buffalo area, near the border with Canada on Friday saw the heaviest snowfall for a single October day since 1870, when recordkeeping began, meteorologists at the National Weather Service said, as snow continued to fall.

Parts of the region had seen up to 60 centimetres of snow by Friday, with up to 12 centimetres more expected, they said.

Dennis Michalski from the State Emergency Management Office said many roads had been closed, people were being advised not to travel and states of emergency had been declared in some local areas.

Power companies believed an estimated 250,000 homes and businesses were without electricity, National Grid spokesman Alberto Bianchetti said, without being able to say how many people that likely represented.

Michalski said emergency crews were out trying to assess the extent of the damage and could not say when power would be restored.

National Weather Service meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said the snow storm would not have caused such disruption if it had struck later in the month.

"This is an unusually heavy snowfall, and if this were in a couple of weeks, it wouldn't be so bad, but the problem we have right now is all the leaves are still on the tress," he said.

 "As a result, the trees are coming down," he added. "Not only do we have blocked roads, but we've got downed power lines, and it's a mess."