Buffalo, New York, could experience minor flooding from a deadly storm due to warming temperatures, melting snow and rain

CNN
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After tremendous efforts to recover from a deadly winter storm, officials in Buffalo, New York, are bracing for the threat of minor flooding in the days ahead as warming temperatures and rain melt the thick layer of snow.

The weekend’s historic blizzard dumped up to 50 inches of snow on the city and created days of cleanup and recovery efforts, including clearing roads, restoring power and carrying out more than 1,000 pending wellness checks and 911 calls.

But the next few days could bring new frustrations for city and Erie County officials, as temperatures could hit 50 degrees next week, melting piles of snow that could be joined by rain Saturday and Tuesday. Rain and snowmelt combined could result in minimal flooding, according to the National Weather Service.

« It doesn’t look like it’s going to be bad, » Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Thursday.

Erie County officials say they are preparing for the threat of flooding by digging drainage ditches so the snowmelt is more gradual. A stock of pumps, pipes and generators is also in place.

The death toll in Erie County has risen to 39, Poloncarz said Thursday, though officials expect that number to rise as medical examiners perform autopsies in cases believed to be related deaths. in the blizzard. Dozens of other people in more than 10 other states also died as last week’s winter storm battered most of the country.

Some Buffalo-area families still haven’t found their missing loved ones, he said, as devastating stories continue to emerge of residents found dead in snow banks, trapped in their cars or in their homes. home. A Buffalo mother went out on Christmas Eve, telling her daughter she would be right back, only to have her body found a few hundred yards from their home.

Questions have been raised about how the crisis and subsequent cleanup has been handled, including whether a driving ban, which came into effect last Friday at 9.30am when the storm hit, should have been implemented more early. Officials said emergency personnel were unable to respond to some calls for help due to heavy storms or roads being blocked by cars.

A contracted EMT from Buffalo told CNN she was stuck in her ambulance for hours on Friday as she tried to respond to a call. « The main reason we were stuck was because there were cars in the way, » Joycelyn Benton said.

Officials could have deployed snowplows and National Guard resources sooner and instituted the travel ban sooner to keep cars off the streets, Benton said. Two-thirds of equipment sent to help clear snow during the height of the storm got stuck, Poloncarz said.

Still, Poloncarz defended the timing of the driving ban, saying county leaders wanted to give third-shift workers enough time to get home. The rule was in place before whiteout conditions began, he said, also noting that « maybe we would have liked to have done it an hour or two ahead…responsibility m ‘incumbent’.

Erie County remains under a state of emergency and disabling the declaration « will still take time, » Poloncarz said.

« We’re not in a position where we can lift him at this stage because there’s still a lot of work to do. »

Several states sent snow removal equipment and emergency personnel to Buffalo and western New York to help with recovery efforts, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Among those found dead in Erie County were an expectant father days away from the birth of his child, a 22-year-old who got stuck in her car and a grandmother whose body was moved so it wouldn’t snow.

One victim, Demetrius Robinson, was found in the snow over Christmas, just a day before his 59th birthday, his sister Elizabeth Rodolph told CNN.

Originally from Buffalo, Robinson was a carpenter who loved to cook, his sister said.

“He always invited the neighborhood children who were playing outside to eat what he prepared. He treated everyone like family,” she said.

Robinson’s family initially became concerned when they could not reach him on Friday, but they went for days without knowing where he was or if he was safe. Finally, the family reached the coroner’s office on Wednesday and found that her body had been brought back on Sunday, Rodolph said.

« Such a lovely person has been removed from our lives, » Rodolph said. « He was the friendliest, sweetest, kindest, most cheerful person you’ve ever met. »

Robinson is survived by his daughter and son. His son Marqll Daniels remembers his father as his role model and hero.

“I always looked up to dad for a lot of things. He always talked to me about how to be a good man. He had a really big heart,” Daniels said.

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the last name of Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.