Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Buffalo's Commissioner for the Department of Public Works Nate Marton gave an update on the storm conditions for Friday.
"We're seeing so high winds and snow bands are causing extreme visibility issues at times. The 190, was getting some spray from the winds on the river. Even here parked next to City Hall [temperatures were] really close to zero at times. That snow band seems to have shifted maybe a little bit more North we're here are hearing some of the visibility issues are a little bit more in the northern part of the city right now," Marton says.
Marton reminds the community, "No one should be out with the driving ban but if you are out, a power outage at a signal is a four-way stop mandatory. No one should be on the roads unless your essential employees of the city in those departments are first responders."
People are without power, National Grid reported about 6.300 without power in Erie County as of 1:45 p.m. on Friday.
Flooding is also a concern, The high winds are causing the water to rise on this side of the lake. We've had a level reported over nine feet at the Coast Guard station. So that's given us some flooding driving down the 190. Broderick Park was was flooded at that point in time and I know we're we're seeing a little bit of flooding in in some of the usual places as well," Marton says.
The Public Works Department in Buffalo is working diligently, "DPW crew is out like I said the parks and forestry team are out as they can handling the trees. Our streets crew is on there are on the roads right now visibility is still okay for them to operate. So they are out and about taking care of the roadways as best they can. Our engineering team is working on those aspects of flooding and power outages. We have seen a number of power outages affect streetlights and some street poles knocked over, some light poles knocked over," according to Marton.
For those who may experience long term power outages, the City of Buffalo is making warming shelters available, Lincoln Community Center and Hennepin are open as warming centers today and adding to our normal Code Blue sites," says Marton.
"Even though we have the two warming shelters that are set up, it will be difficult to get people to the warming shelters. This is where we're asking for neighbors to step in. We don't want seniors and people without power to have to try to travel too far by car to a warming shelter. So if neighbors can help out if family members that are close by can help out, that would probably be a better option given given the conditions that we're seeing outside right now," Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown adds.
The mayor also mentions, "Temperatures are expected to potentially drop to minus eight degrees tonight and we want to emphasize that people should not be driving, they should not be on the roads. If you get caught and whiteout conditions and you go off off the road, it's going to be very uncomfortable out there and you potentially could be waiting for some time for someone to get to you to rescue you because this is also a dangerous situation for emergency first responders."
