Buffalo, NY (WBEN) As a blizzard hits Western New York this Christmas weekend, private plow drivers will be hard at work. But they say safety will be an issue, and patience will be necessary.
Geoff Bray operates an expansive fleet of plows and loaders in the southtowns and says while he's ready to go, he's wondering how he'll get to his clients. "I don't know if we're going to be able to get down the road. I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing myself, but we're gonna make every attempt to get out and get going," admits Bray. But he says he will be on the road as soon as the snow flies.
Bray says visibility is a big concern for him. "The hard part is going to be able to see down the road," says Bray. He recalls plowing snow out of a driveway only to hit a parked car buried in the snow. He adds he doesn't recall dealing with 60 mph wind gusts before.
"Normal strategies go out the window at this point," says Drew Flett, another large plowing contractor across the southtowns. He says he normally shoots for 6am to get driveways plowed out but with this storm, meeting that timeframe is not a priority. "I think personal safety of everyone involved has to take top priority over everything over everything else," says Flett.
Flett agrees visibility will be the issue. "You've got to have that you (have) to see where you're going to be safe," says Flett. He notes he will spend a lot of time on his couch monitoring the weather situation. "We might have some windows of opportunity there to sneak out there and get everybody you know, opened up the best we can," but Flett says that could be on an hour by hour basis.
Flett says he himself got stuck in the last snowstorm. He says he was fortunate to have a neighbor help him out. He says patience and helping each other out will go a long way in riding out the storm.
