machine to get people out of a house that had been drifted shut. The long cleanup period included the railroads, who used front-end loaders to clear snow from the rail yard into open-bodied rail cars and shipped it east by Conrail. Sixteen of 25 towns in Erie County, as well as the City of Buffalo, declared states of emergency and banned all nonessential traffic at some time during the storm. The USACE normal work force, plus personnel from other USACE installations, resulted in a total of 353 USACE personnel working on the recovery effort. The USACE Buffalo District overall effort (including both western and northern New York) reported $6.8 million used in paying 216 private contractors to plow 3,186 miles of road in 9 counties using about 1,000 pieces of equipment and US$700,000 of in-house costs. Other military assistance included 500 National Guard troops, 320 U. S. Army Airborne troops, the 20th Engineer Brigade from Fort Bragg, 65–70 U.S. Marines, as well as assistance from the U.S. Air Force. The National Guard operation was entitled Task Force Western, with headquarters at the Connecticut Street Armory in Buffalo, and included providing 9–10 Army-type ambulances along with operators for use in the City of Buffalo when almost no normal ambulances were able to operate. The Salvation Army fed between 67,000 and 176,000 people, provided clothing for about 4,500, and housed 851, for a cost of US$75,000 to US$150,000, using 1,000 volunteers and over 400 snowmobiles. A Salvation Army official noted the disaster was unique in that "it covered 9 counties and nobody could get in". The American Red Cross distributed 5 tons (4500 kg) of food at 84–92 locations, feeding about 50,000 people. The total snowfall for Buffalo during the storm was only (Port Colborne in Ontario received . The blizzard was made unique by the sustained winds, gusting up to , which picked up the snowdrifts piled on the frozen Lake Erie and dumped that snow load in western New York and southern Ontario. The winds were accompanied by Arctic-cold temperatures, making it feel like outside Whiteout conditions had trapped people at work, in cars and in homes; some had to stay for a day, while others had to stay for the storm's duration. At the Buffalo zoo, drifts allowed three reindeer to walk over their fence and wander about the city; also, over 20 animals died during the storm. There