BUFFALO, N.Y., Dec 26 (Reuters) - A blizzard that paralyzed western New York over the Christmas weekend has killed more than two dozen people, local officials said on Monday, as crews struggled to dig out the snow-bound region around Buffalo from its fiercest winter storm in decades.With snow continuing to fall on top of more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) dumped on Buffalo since the blizzard took shape on Friday, New York's second-largest city stood as ground zero for a storm the governor called an "epic, once-in-a-lifetime" weather disaster.The fatalities included cases of people found in snow banks and in cars or who had died from cardiac stress while plowing or blowing snow, county executive Mark Poloncarz said.Howling winds, numbing cold and "lake-effect" snow - the result of moisture picked up by frigid air moving over warmer lake waters - produced a storm that New York Governor Kathy Hochul said would go down in history as "the Blizzard of '22."U.S. President Joe Biden issued a federal emergency declaration for the state of New York on Monday night, authorizing U.S. government assistance to bolster state and local recovery efforts, the White House announced."