Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - With the threat of heavy lake effect snow in Buffalo and throughout much of Erie County late Thursday through Friday night, the City of Buffalo and Erie County are ready to bring out the snow fleets as well as working to keep residents informed.
City of Buffalo
Buffalo's new Commissioner for the Department of Public Works, Nathan Marton gave an update Wednesday afternoon on the plan of action for this winter storm and information on talks with the National Weather Service.
"Thursday night, we can expect anywhere from 12 to 18 inches of snow entering the city. Throughout the day Friday, we could expect another 12 to 18 inches of snow during the day. Overnight Friday night, another eight to 12 inches potentially could hit the city tapers off a little bit on Saturday, four to six inches, potentially expected during the day and another four to six inches overnight Saturday night and then the band would head north for a brief period of time, come back across the city Sunday moving south. So a little brief hit a snow Sunday as well," says Marton.
The plan of action?
"We're moving forward with a multi-faceted, multi-layered approach. First off, Deputy Commissioner Jackson will have our city fleet on the streets, working the streets as soon as the snow hits," Marton says. "We are currently engaging multiple private contractors to be on board and remove snow as needed from from streets and parts of the city starting on Friday,"
In addition, the City will also have assistance from New York State and on a federal level, "The city plows we've already coordinated assistance with New York State DOT (Department of Transportation). Their equipment will be on our streets as well as assisting our city personnel and we thank them for their assistance at this point in time. Also assisting, will be the Department of Homeland Security who has committed equipment to the city as well. So we have them enlisted.
All in all, the City of Buffalo could have over 100 large snow removing equipment on the street at a given time, ready to take care of the snow projected to come several inches every hour.
Marton also notes one of the main issues the city had last year, parking in the snow, "I cannot emphasize enough, urge and ask all the residents of the city to please follow those parking guidelines, effective tomorrow (Nov. 17th). We're urging everybody to get on the right side, but if we run into a vehicle that needs to be moved, because they're on the wrong side of the street, our plows will actually signal their horn. So when you hear that as a resident, just take a look out. If you know it's your vehicle, we're just asking you to get that moved as you can safely on the right side street again, it's helping us and our team clear the streets effectively for everyone," says Marton. Cars parked on the wrong side of the street could face ticketing or a tow.
In addition, garbage pickup is suspended beginning and will resume Friday when weather conditions allow.
New this year of course, is the plow tracking system, which is currently live from the city, "Residents of the city will be able to log in to the snow fleet website link that's on our the city of Buffalo website and see the status of their streets as we've talked about previously.
For all weather and traffic alerts, Buffalo's Buff Alerts is live, text your zip code to 83276 to sign up for the updates.
Erie County
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz also gave another snow update Wednesday afternoon, "I've only seen one other storm in my history as county executive and this is my 11th year, in which we had a storm listed as extreme," said Poloncarz.
There is a travel advisory for all of Erie County starting at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Poloncarz recommends that private businesses and school close. County offices and libraries will be closed on Friday, Nov. 18th.
Poloncarz also advises that everybody should stay home on Friday, Poloncarz says that there could be a driving ban in place with the severity of the storm, "I don't know if there will be a driving ban. I'll have a much better idea early Friday morning. The only way to implement a driving ban under New York State law is to declare a state of emergency. So it is possible that if the severity of storm is as strong as predicted that a state of emergency would be declared early Friday and a driving ban could be put in effect for portions of Erie County that morning, but I'll have a much better idea on that tomorrow night."
See the player below for the full announcement from Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz:
