(WBEN) - Several inches and feet of snow fell across parts of Western New York last week thanks to back-to-back lake effect snowstorms that hammered the region over the course of 5-6 days.
Among the hardest hit areas between those two storms includes the towns of West Seneca, Hamburg, Orchard Park, as well as the cities of Lackawanna and South Buffalo.
Related
In the efforts to clear roads and driveways of snow, many people found themselves with a large amount of excess snow piled up either alongside the road or out the outer edges of their driveways, creating snowbanks that may hinder vision and increase the risk of a motor vehicle accident.
But have any of these local municipalities noticed an increase in accidents due to the large snowbanks? As it turns out, the impact has been minimal.
"I know those were a concern for probably everybody in town, regardless of whether they were on a local, county or state road because of the massive snowfall that we did have. However, of our 50 accidents since the storm event, I believe one was attributed to the high snowbanks, and all the other accidents had other causal issues," said Town of Hamburg Police Chief Peter Dienes.
"We've had a couple that may have been related to high snowbanks, but I would say anecdotally, it's nothing worse than it normally would be in any storm," said West Seneca Police Cpt. Jim Unger. "Clearly, the banks are higher, there's no doubt about that. With seven feet of snow, the snow has to be put somewhere."
Thankfully, each of the accidents reported as a result of the large snowbanks in both Hamburg and West Seneca were nothing more than a typical "fender bender", with those residents involved coming away rather unscathed.
While these large snowbanks may start to dwindle in size in the coming days to due a weather warmup, Cpt. Unger reminds residents that you are responsible for your property and maintaining that property, especially if you're a private business owner.
"If you can get out there, just knock back some of those snowbanks a little bit, especially at your driveways, intersection to the road. That would be extremely helpful," Cpt. Unger said. "Our highway and DPW workers are focusing on road intersections primarily, so if private owners and residents can help out by knocking down their driveways, that'd be very helpful."
While both Hamburg and West Seneca have worked to clear as much snow as possible to avoid the potential of an accident as a result of snowbanks, officials are advising residents to just take it easy and, if need be, take it slow and cautious if snowbanks are still a problem.
"I think just exercising extreme caution, taking your time, inching your way out until you can actually get a view of what's coming on your side of the road first, and then inch out a little more then to see what the other side looks like so you could pull out safely," Chief Dienes said.
Meanwhile in West Seneca, Cpt. Unger says if you happen to be traveling on a two-lane road, it may be a good idea to drive in the left lane of the road.
"That way you're away from that intersection, because you know you're going to have cars that are going to be peeking their nose out, trying to see around those banks, if there are any. It'd be a little bit safer by driving in the left lane," he said. "And for the vehicles that are trying to navigate those intersections, poke your nose out a little bit at a time so that it's safe until you can see around those banks, if there are some."
Since this recent snowfall with back-to-back storms, there's even been some talk in Hamburg of bringing in some more equipment to add to the resources for the community when the lake effect snow machine starts churning.
"[Highway superintendent Ed Hughes is] actually purchasing a large blower, which will be able to take those snowbanks and blow the snow more off to the side to widen the area so folks can see when they're trying to pull out on the streets," Chief Dienes said.
So what more can residents do to help town officials and crews with the excess snow? Cpt. Unger in West Seneca is asking for assistance with helping the fire departments clear hydrants of snow throughout the town.
"If you're physically able to, our firemen have been out there trying to clear hydrants. Since the snow, obviously with the amount of snow we had, they were buried. They're doing their best to get out there," Cpt. Unger explained. "If you have the ability and you have a hydrant on your location, or if it's an elderly resident next door that has a hydrant on their property, if you could please get out and shovel those out, it would be extremely helpful. There's several hundred hydrants throughout the town, and the firemen can't just get out there to do all of them."