As western New York still struggles to cope with the fallout of a historic winter storm, the National Guard began door-to-door wellness checks in some neighborhoods on Wednesday.
As The Dallas Express previously reported, New York Governor Kathy Hochul called a state of emergency even before the storm hit on December 22. Over Christmas weekend, the region saw three consecutive days of snowfall with accumulations of over 4 feet.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz announced that at least 34 people had died in the county, most occurring in the city of Buffalo. Nationwide, over 50 deaths have been attributed to the winter storm thus far.
The wellness checks by the National Guard in the coming 48 hours will focus on neighborhoods that have lost power. Poloncarz said 840 national grid outages were reported as of December 28.
“We are fearful that there are individuals who may have perished living alone, or two people who are not doing well in an establishment, especially those that still don’t have power,” Poloncarz said during the news conference.
Local news outlet WGRZ reported that 50 National Guard soldiers have been in the region since December 23, including:
- 18 general-purpose soldiers with five humvees
- 14 military police with two humvees and two LMTVs
- 21 engineers with a 2.5-yard loader, three skid steers, and three dump trucks
A temporary emergency number was set up for people needing urgent help; however, operators were quickly overwhelmed, reportedly receiving around 400 calls an hour. Poloncarz had to re-emphasize that the line was only for those in critical need of assistance.
Moving the thick heavy snow — some of which was pushed by high winds to form massive drifts — from the streets has been a laborious process.
As of Wednesday’s press conference, 65% of Buffalo’s streets had at least one lane cleared for cars to pass through. However, more recent reports said that all city streets had seen at least one snowplow pass through by Thursday morning.
Despite the deployment of various assets in response to the “once-in-a-generation storm,” some have been critical of actions — or lack thereof — taken by local authorities.
Notably, Erie County residents questioned why the local travel ban was issued late — at 9:30 a.m. on the morning of December 23 — when conditions had worsened dramatically long before.
“If anyone is to be blamed, you can blame me,” Poloncarz said. “I’m the one that has to make the final call on behalf of the county.”
There will soon be some respite for western New York since the storm seems to have passed, with temperatures in Buffalo expected to reach the low 50s by the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
