
Hamburg, N.Y. (WBEN) - A Blizzard Warning that is set to take effect in Western New York come Friday morning has many residents across the region on high alert, with forecasters potentially calling this a "once in a generation" storm.

Starting Friday at 7 a.m. EST, the Blizzard Warning will start for Erie, Genesee, Niagara and Orleans Counties and last through 7 a.m. EST on Sunday, with snow totals potentially accumulating in the range of 1-to-3 feet. In addition, winds gusts could be as high as 70 miles-per-hour in some spots Friday and Friday night. Those winds will create blizzard-like conditions that will last through Saturday evening.
In addition, a rapid drop in temperatures will quickly switch any rain to snow, resulting in the potential for a flash freeze, which will create some slick conditions in the area.
On top of the Blizzard Warning, a Lakeshore Flood Warning is also in effect starting at 7 a.m. EST Friday for both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, with the lake level at Buffalo possibly exceeding 12 feet above low water datum, which would be more than four feet above flood stage.
According to the National Weather Service, the very rapid rise in water levels will result in significant, and possibly extensive lakeshore flooding and damage along the Lake Erie and Upper Niagara River shores. Along the Lake Erie shore, flooding is likely along a number of areas, including Route 5 in Hamburg.
Located along Route 5 is Hoak's Lakeshore Restaurant, a popular and well-known location in the Town of Hamburg for not only quality food and their dining atmosphere, but also past winter storms that pounded the restaurant. Despite some nasty storms off the lake in years past that have tested the restaurant, it remains well-intact and lively to this day.
However, co-owner Kevin Hoak knows this storm set to ravage Western New York and the Lake Erie shoreline will pack a punch that the area has not seen in some time. With that in mind, extra precautions need to be taken to ensure the 73-year-old business can continue to withstand all that's thrown its way by the waters of Lake Erie.
"What we did was we put storm boards over the windows throughout the whole entire restaurant," said Hoak on Thursday. "With 75-mile-per-hour winds, you don't want any debris or rock or branches or logs coming through your windows. So we had to board up the windows, just secure the area, and you've just got to protect the house."
In its history, Hoak's has seen a number of storms blow in off the lake that have brought high winds, heavy rains, large waves that crash ashore, and also feet of snow. Where things get interesting is when conditions rapidly turn cold and creates a flash freeze scenario, which results in some incredible ice formations on the outdoor deck.



As for what Hoak prefers with the weather, he says no matter what happens coming off the lake or how well they may think the restaurant is secured, there's still going to be some leaks coming in through the windows or the roof.
"It just happens with the 25-foot waves, it's going to find its way in. Water is scary and powerful," Hoak said. "The best thing that can happen to us would be that the temperature drops to 15 degrees or so. That way, when the waves crash, you're gonna take a couple of hits, but then eventually it's gonna freeze your restaurant, and it will act as a barrier. So if it freezes over your roof and the side of your restaurant, it's going to protect it when the waves are crashing, because it's frozen over. You don't want 75-mile-per-hour winds with 45-degree weather. A flash freeze, that's what you want. You want it to freeze to protect itself."
Hoak adds that once the storm passes come Monday after Christmas, he will be back at the restaurant to take down the ice and boards put up in order to get business back up and running - in addition to not allowing for any melting ice to potentially cause more damage.
Over the last few years, the Army Corps of Engineers have been called in right along Route 5 near Hoak's to help support parts of the shoreline with a new rock wall in an attempt to try and prevent the splash over from the waves on to Route 5, causing substantial lakeshore flooding. However, as Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz believed on Thursday during his blizzard briefing, if there are 15-to-20-foot waves, as what's forecasted, that protection system put in by the Army Corps of Engineers may not be enough to entirely stop the flooding in that area.
"They put the rock wall in along Route 5. It looks really nice, and it's definitely better than what it was without the racks there. It's more of a spray now versus a consistent pounding of the waves on the street, where they had to close off the street a lot of the times because you just have consistent waves crashing and crashing," Hoak said of the rock wall. "But now with the break wall, if you will, the rocks, that protects it, and you get more of a spray. But, I mean, it's Mother Nature. Nothing's perfect when you have those high winds. You're gonna eventually get a big wave that's going to crash on the street, but you don't have the consistency anymore, which is great."
Hoak's is also a very close stop along Route 5 to Hoover Beach, with houses that sit closer to the Lake Erie shoreline. That area gets hit quite a bit during storms like this, and this blizzard has prompted an evacuation of houses there due to the potential of flooding and additional damage to homes there.
Residents living on Hoover Beach needed to be evacuated from the area by 8 p.m. EST on Thursday night.
Hoak says for residents who have visited the establishment in the recent days, it has been a scary situation for many people close to the shoreline with what's to come with this storm.
"I've never heard so many news anchors and weathermen talk like this before, where they're saying this is gonna be the storm of the century, stay home," he said. "All of this is scary, so you've got to prepare for it, and you're better off taking care of it versus saying, 'I wish we would've done that,' and now you go back and you can't do it. So I think people are taking it serious, and we've basically got to hope for the best and pray that it's not as bad as they say. But if it is, then we did as much as we possibly could with boarding up, and that's all you can do.
"Mother Nature is Mother Nature, and sometimes she wins in the end, but you can only do so much."
At this point in time, all Hoak can do is prepare for the worst conditions, and hope that come Monday the restaurant can be able to return to normal business without the possibility of extensive damage.
"Everybody had a helping hand and taking part in just trying to secure the restaurant to make it safe and protected, for sure," he said.


Hear more of our conversation with Hoak available in the player below: