Road crews repel ‘Snowvember’ punch BUFFALO — The early season snowfall that slammed parts of Western New York proved to be a challenge even for CSEA members who are normally used to responding to large amounts of winter weather. When the snow stopped four days after it began on Nov. 17, some areas were buried under an entire winter’s worth of snow and schools had used all their snow days — and it wasn’t even winter yet. Western New Yorkers living beneath a narrow lake effect snow band received as much as 90 inches of snow during this unusual storm that claimed 14 lives, stranded many motorists and paralyzed an area that is used to snow and knows how to handle it. “It was a crazy nine days.” First to help Many CSEA members found themselves serving as first responders in the epic storm. “It was a crazy nine days,” said Depew Department of Public Works Unit President Lewis Heltman. He and other DPW workers worked endlessly for days to clear more than 6 feet of snow from the village. The snow band — only about 14 miles wide — stretched from South Buffalo and the Buffalo southtowns northeast over Depew and Lancaster and into Wyoming and Genesee counties. While communities within the band got slammed with snow, those outside of it got little to no snow. “A lot of people do not understand how difficult it is to deal with conditions like these,” said Brian Cummins, president of the West Seneca Blue Collar Unit. “During a ‘normal’ snowfall, it can take a plow driver four hours to drive a complete route. If it is snowing heavily, by the time you finish your route, the roads at the beginning look like they haven’t been touched.” “Snowvember,” as it’s being called, was so severe that highway crews could not keep up. Eventually, plowing became virtually impossible, and efforts turned to checking on stranded motorists and moving people to safety. The West Seneca Highway Department garage became a temporary home to a doctor stranded on his way to work at a hospital, Cummins said. When the snow finally stopped, help came from across the state. The National Guard came to help, and CSEA members from the Town of Webster spent a weekend helping with relief efforts. New York State Department Buffalo Central Terminal rises beyond a line of dump trucks hauling snow after record snowfall in the Buffalo area. CSEA members from across the state responded to help clear roads. Photo courtesy of Rob Van Avery. of Transportation members statewide came to Western New York, as did highway crews from Long Island and CSEA’s Capital and Central regions.. “Everyone worked together to get the area moving again,” Cummins said. In seemingly typical Western New York storm fashion, warmer temperatures, rain and snowmelt followed the heavy snowfall. Crews had not yet finished clearing the snow as they began to implement flood control plans. The National Guard and volunteers helped sandbag homes in flood-prone areas in West Seneca and the flooding was “very controlled” in Depew, Heltman said. — Lynn Miller See related stories on pages 3, 10 and 11. January 2015 The Work Force 9
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