NEW YORK. Dec 31: A record snowstorm, the Northcast's first major winter storm In five years, dumped more then 60 cent I metres of snow in central New Jersey, canceling hundreds of flights and slowing motorists to a crawl, reports AP.

Philadelphia declared a snow emergency', and New York sent National Guard troops to the southeast corner of the state. Ail of the Neu- York City area s major airport s wvre closed.

"It’s loo dangerous, people's lives are at slake,' bus driver James McCain said after a harrowing trip into New York City from Montclair. New Jersey. He got stuck behind another skidding bus on the ramp into Ihc Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan and his 11 passengers got out and walked.

Others chose to see die brighter side.

'You don't hear a sound in the world." said Jeffrey Greene. 56. of Merlon. Pennsylvania, as he walked two kilometres to his synagogue. There's nothing quite like a walk In the morning with a new snow’. The world seems so pure, so beautiful."

In many ways, it was a day’ best enjoyed by children. Seventy-five youngsters flocked to a small hill in Linwood. New Jersey to fly down on sleds and tobog gans.

"Exon though it's not that big of a hill, it's still pretty slippery slldev, said 14-year-old Lisa Grossman.

As much as 62 centimetres of snow had fallen by mld-afternoon at Randolph In central New Jersey's Morris County, and more than a 15 centimetres accumulated in parts of eastern Pennsylvania and Connecticut."

New York City’s Central Park had 30 centimetres by early afternoon, a record for the date, before the snowfall eased and started turning to slush. And Newark. New' Jersey collected a record with 34 centimetres: Bridgeport, Connecticut, had a record 22 centimetres.

US President BUI Clinton, meanwhile, took measures to help insulate Americans coping with snow, ice and frigid temperatures from what he said may become the coldest winter In years releasing an additional dlrs 300 million In emergency aid.

"None of us can control the weather. But all of us are responsible for how we respond to and prepare for It." he said in his weekly radio address on Saturday. With the actions I am taking. the federal government Is fulfilling Its responsibility."

The last big storm to hit the Northeast was on Jan 7, 1996. when 48 centimetres of snow fell on New York City. Last winter, the city got a mere 33 centimetres for tlle whole season.

The central East Coast escaped the expected brunt of Saturdays storm because it developed farther north and east Ilian forecast. The morning sky

was clear In Washington and Harrisburg. Pennsylvania, while snow extended from southern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania to the southern tip of Maine.

Kara Grossman look a train from Watertown. Massachusetts, to Newark. "It was kind of scary looking out the windows," she said. You couldn't sec anything. It was all white. We thought we were In a cloud."

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani discounted any speculation that the weather might cancel the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square. "Although it's cold, it's not unbearable." he told reporters.

Philadelphia Mayor John Street declared a snow emergency, meaning only emergency vehicles were allowed downtown.

New York Gov. George Pataki activated 180 National Guard troops with 26 vehicles to help tn southeastern New York.

You can’t see any of the runways. It’s completely white" would-be traveler Kristin Foschi said from a terminal at New York's LaGuardia airport. "By the time a plow completes a circle, it's covered again. It's really quite entertaining."

Newlyweds Time and Tracy Scanlon of Morris Plains. New Jersey, were stuck at Newark International Airport because the snow grounded their flight to the Cayman Islands for their 10-day honeymoon.

Philadelphia's airports stayed open but airlines there reported delays and cancellations. Amtrak canceled Metrollner service between New York and Washington although most other trains kept running. New Jersey Transit suspended bus service in several counties and bus service in and out of the Port Authority in Manhattan was suspended.

Residents had plenty of warning that the storm would be formed by the combination of one weather system that had plastered the upper Midwest with snow and another that spread ice across the south central states.

Highway and street crews were ready with hundreds of trucks and plows and people Jammed stores as they stocked up on

supplies.

Elsewhere, people across the South continued to deal with the aftermath of the storms that hit earlier In the week, killing at least 40 people. Electric workers fought bitter cold and Ice for a fifth day as they struggled to restore power to tens of thousands of homes in Arkansas. Oklahoma and Texas.