Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - "It was certainly wild, once in a lifetime for sure," said Jason from North Buffalo. Those who finally got a chance to shop for food once Wegmans' reopened in Niagara and Erie County Tuesday, weren't short on stories before, during and after the storm.
Chris and Lauren, Buffalo natives who now reside in Fort Lauderdale, Florida decided to plan their flight to Buffalo on Thursday because they saw the reports of the storm that was to come on Friday, "We were supposed to come in on Friday, but we heard about the storm coming so we changed our flight to come in on Thursday, not knowing how bad this was going to be and not knowing what the airport is gonna be like," Chris says, who mentions his sister was without power for four days in Cheektowaga.
"We wanted a white Christmas, but maybe not this much," Chris added.
Jason from North Buffalo was also without power on more than one occasion. However, it was nothing compared to what he heard from friends and family, "A friend of ours in Cheektowaga actually didn't have power for four days. The house got down to the low 40s and they were just trying to do everything they could just to stay warm and there really was no nowhere for them to go or nothing for them to do because of the storm. They're still now just trying to get the power back on at their place and try to warm up the house a little bit."
While some were stuck at home, some were stranded at work, like Mike from Tonawanda who got into work at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, "I work for the Buffalo Psychiatric Center and we basically got stuck at work because nobody could show up. Everybody else was at home, they couldn't get in. So we're dealing with patients and patient care, so we worked for 20 hours straight and would take a four hour shift of trying to take a nap and then just right back to it again."
Mike got to leave Monday, but for a very concerning reason, "I ended up having to leave Monday morning because of the fact my father got sent to the emergency room. I ended up taking off, they really didn't want me to leave. I told him that it wasn't going to be a choice. I was going to make sure that my father was okay. So I ended up rushing over to Kenmore Mercy to make sure that he was good and soon as I got home, I spent probably about six to eight hours outside shoveling. So I have maybe like, four hours worth of sleep over the last 72 hours," he said.
He explained that his father was also stranded at work. He is an engineer who works in downtown Buffalo. He didn't have money or his wallet for food and didn't eat anything for days.
A lot of people got out of their driveways Monday once it started warming up and once the travel bans were lifted in Niagara County and some areas in Erie County, many were surprised to see what waited in the aftermath of storm, cars stranded and snow banks so high you could sled down them. But most importantly, many residents were pleased with the help of their fellow neighbors.
"[I saw] lot of cars and vehicles stranded and just left right in the middle of the roads. But outside of that, I mean, a lot of neighborly help, you know a lot of people really trying to look out for each other. I know my neighbors tried to dig my wife's car out before I even had got home. So that was really nice of them," Mike says.
"You feel for all the these first responders and the people out there trying to clean up this, this mess and having to deal with all that," says Jason from North Buffalo. "The other day we actually had to push a nurse's vehicle out of an intersection just so that she could walk four blocks to the VA hospital."
"It's unbelievable how fast the workers have have got this done without the amount of snow," Chris says.