(Bloomberg) -- Lake-effect snow that killed at least 10 people and halted travel across western New York may reach as high as 7 feet in some areas before stopping today, when temperatures will rise along with the risk of flooding.
The state has sent about 1,300 workers and 658 pieces of snow-clearing equipment to the area where the snow has to be dug rather than plowed because it’s so heavy, Governor Andrew Cuomo said. Photographs posted on Twitter showed houses buried to the eaves and cars covered on highways. Schools closed and mail delivery ground to a halt.
“There is going to be flooding after the temperatures increase,” Mayor Byron Brown said at a press briefing in Buffalo yesterday. “That is inevitable.”
The city has cleared more than 24,000 tons of snow in dump trucks from its south side, Brown said.
During a break in the snow yesterday, workers made progress clearing roads, though some closings and driving bans remain in place before the next blast of precipitation moves in, Cuomo said at a press briefing.
“This is the largest deployment of its kind ever,” Cuomo said in Cheektowaga, a town east of Buffalo. “There are literally thousands of people from across the state coming in to help.”
Cuomo and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said local officials should be counting every dollar they spend, including pizza orders for volunteer firefighters, as they seek to meet the minimum threshold for federal disaster funding.
Ten Killed
At least 10 people died in the storm, most of them from heart attacks, the Associated Press said, citing officials in Erie County, which includes Buffalo.
The National Guard, which Cuomo called in Nov. 18., is working with the state police to do house checks on residents who may have health problems, Joseph D’Amico, the police superintendent, said at press briefing yesterday. The Guard is also clearing roofs that are in danger of collapsing.
Lancaster, east of the city, had more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) of snow as of yesterday morning, the National Weather Service said. Normally, Buffalo receives about 94.7 (241 centimeters) inches per year, according to the agency’s website.
“This snowfall may break all kinds of records, and that’s saying something in western New York,” Cuomo said Nov. 19.
The New York State Thruway was closed between Ripley, New York, near the border with Pennsylvania, and Rochester, 139 miles (224 kilometers) away, according to the Thruway Authority’s website.
Drivers Trapped
About 150 people were trapped for a time on the highway, even though Cuomo ordered it closed before the storm hit, Poloncarz said. A jackknifed tractor-trailer caused a traffic jam just as the snow began. Cuomo said drivers failed to obey the closing order before officials could block entrance ramps.
The trapped drivers were freed, although some truck drivers chose to stay with their rigs, Cuomo said.
Michael Signora, a spokesman for the National Football League, said yesterday that the Buffalo Bills home game scheduled for Nov. 23 against the New York Jets will be rescheduled and relocated to another city. An estimated 220,000 tons of snow would have to be cleared from the Ralph Wilson Stadium complex, said Andy Major, vice president of operations for the Bills.
The snow was caused by lake-effect storms, which occur when cold air passes over relatively warm water. Water temperature in lakes Erie and Ontario range from the high 30s Fahrenheit to the mid-40s (about 7 Celsius), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
By this weekend, temperatures will moderate and reach into the 50s, Church said.
“Our next concern will be thinking about any flooding once the snow starts to melt,” Church said. “We may be dealing with the aftermath of this for a while.”
--With assistance from Mason Levinson in New York.
Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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