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BUFFALO – The city of Buffalo’s response to the massive blizzard that left at least 34 people dead across the region was under attack Wednesday, as emergency responders continued to search for survivors and plows moved mini mountains of snow that they kept the city under a drive. ban for the sixth consecutive day.
In a daily briefing, Mark Poloncarz, the executive of Erie County, which includes Buffalo, criticized city leaders for not cleaning up the streets quickly and accused Mayor Byron W. Brown’s administration of ‘be detached from the coordinated local and state response. Poloncarz said the county “took over” the cleanup of one-third of Buffalo and had discussed with state officials the possibility of taking responsibility for all plowing within the city limits during future major storms. .
“We have a call from elected officials every morning, and the city of Buffalo was not participating,” Poloncarz said. And he added: “The mayor will not be happy to know this, but storm after storm, after storm, after storm, the city, unfortunately, is the last to open, and it shouldn’t be like that. . It’s embarrassing, to tell you the truth.”
Brown, speaking at a separate briefing minutes later, deflected the accusations, stressing that Buffalo was the hardest hit area of a historic storm. He said Polocarz had not expressed concern to him and insisted there was “no fight” between the two.
“People have been working around the clock since the start of this storm,” Brown said. “Some people handle that pressure very differently. Some people continue to work. Some people continue to try to help the residents of our community, and some people break down and lash out.”
In an interview later Wednesday, Brown again denied the allegations. “We understand the frustration, the fear, the anger,” he said. “But everything that could have been done before the storm and during the storm was done.”
The blame threatened to hamper coordination after the worst storm to hit the region since 1977 and drew fresh scrutiny to Brown, who has led the city for nearly 17 years. Brown was re-elected in 2021 to a fifth term as a write-in candidate despite City Hall corruption scandals and complaints of mismanagement in a deeply impoverished city.
“Our city government is failing us,” said community organizer India Walton, a socialist who was the Democratic candidate for mayor. “There’s deflection, gaslighting, excuse, and that means 30 people have died as a result and somebody has to be held accountable.”
Even in a region famous for snow, the storm had an overwhelming impact that experts and elected officials attributed to a combination of historic blizzard conditions, a shortage of emergency management resources and the determination of some residents accustomed to extreme weather to continue with their lives. especially the days before Christmas.
And unlike previous storms, which often hit smaller towns outside of Buffalo harder, this one hit the city, putting more people at risk, knocking out power to more homes and snarling streets full of cars that ended up serving as a road block for emergency services.
But questions about preparedness, including the timing of the travel ban, which was issued during Friday morning’s commute just minutes before 79 mph winds hit the area, have been mounting as Buffalo digs out from under snowdrifts. Brown said Friday that the city was “absolutely” capable of handling snow from a storm of this magnitude, but also said “the city’s snow plan does not address blizzards. It tackles normal snowfall.”
In an interview, Buffalo Common Council member Rasheed Wyatt said he didn’t “want to point fingers” but acknowledged the storm revealed a need to review the city’s plans. No changes were made after a major snowstorm in November, he noted.
“We have to learn some lessons from what happened,” Wyatt said, adding, “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime storm. But I’m not just going to put everything on that. There are things we could have done better.”
Asked why the travel ban was not issued earlier, Poloncarz said Officials weighed projections that the storm band wouldn’t arrive until mid-morning and the need for night shift workers to get home. “If you have to blame someone, you can blame me,” he said. “I am the one who must make the final call on behalf of the county.”
Officials said Buffalo’s driving ban is expected to remain in effect until at least Thursday morning, though they expressed concern that many residents were ignoring it, slowing cleanup efforts. City and county crews aimed to have at least one lane open on each street by Wednesday night, they said.
That timeline was of little comfort to Buffalo residents, who remained snowbound for nearly a week after the storm, frustrated by the inability to drive to buy groceries or medicine. In the LaSalle neighborhood on Buffalo’s East Side, streets were still impassable Wednesday afternoon. Residents were taking in now dense and heavy snow after a day of warmer temperatures.
Kazi Mohammad was using a snowblower in the driveway of a rental property trapped by a four-foot bank of snow dumped there by a front-end loader. Mohammad, a supervisor at a nonprofit organization, said he didn’t see any snow plowing on his street until Tuesday afternoon.
“I feel like the city has always been ill-prepared for snowstorms like this,” Mohammad said.
Up the street, Jesse and Nadine Mitchell cleared snow from around their car after digging out the driveway. Trucks, all-terrain vehicles and the occasional car were moving along a narrow road cut in the snow.
Nadine Mitchell, her voice raised as she explained her displeasure with the government’s response, blamed both Brown and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).
“For a week, they knew this storm was coming,” he said. “Then why wouldn’t you have the National Guard here?”
It’s always the poorest neighborhoods that get cleaned up last, Mitchell said — neighborhoods like his.
“As a taxpayer, as a homeowner, how come we’re always left last to dig?” she said
With temperatures warming to 40 degrees, county officials said Wednesday they were now preparing for the possibility of snowmelt flooding, though they said it was unlikely to cause problems
Authorities were also dealing with many reports of looting, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said. Authorities arrested nine suspects Tuesday, he said, describing stores where “the shelves, the cash registers, things have been absolutely destroyed It’s not necessary. It’s disgusting, to be perfectly honest.”
At least 34 people in the county lost their lives as a result of the storm, Poloncarz said, with 26 of them in Buffalo. Buffalo officials said 28 had died within city limits; it was not clear why these figures differed.
More victims are likely to be found, officials warned. National Guard members began expanding Wednesday, going door-to-door to check on residents in neighborhoods that lost power, Poloncarz said.
“We have people who have died, even alone, or people who are not doing well in an establishment, especially those who are not yet empowered,” Poloncarz said.
Among those killed was William Clay, a lifelong resident and retired truck driver. According to her sister, Sophia Clay, she took the threat of storms seriously, having seen firsthand how the weather in this city on the shores of Lake Erie can go from cold to calm in an instant. a blinding, furious and deadly snow.
Sophia Clay last spoke to her brother around midnight on Saturday morning, Christmas Eve, when she called to wish him a happy 56th birthday. “He looked happy,” she said. “He told me he loved me and would see me soon.”
A short time later, according to the family, Clay left on foot to a nearby convenience store to pick up last-minute supplies. That night, a relative who arrived at Clay’s home found the house empty and alerted other family members.
Worried, Sophia Clay posted a message on Facebook asking neighbors to look after her brother. Hours later, the family was alerted to a photograph circulating on social media of a man face down in the snow block building of his brother’s home. She knew it was him: she recognized his coat.
Sophia Clay said she called Buffalo police. “They said they were on their way,” he said. But hours later, the family were horrified to see new photos of the body still there. “Hours and hours and hours, he was just laying there,” she said.
The family felt helpless. Driving was prohibited. Increasingly less convinced that local officials would respond, Clay’s relatives began trying to figure out a way to collect his body on their own.
Clay’s body was finally recovered Saturday night or Sunday morning. The family has not yet been able to go to the medical examiner’s office to see the body in person, although his sister identified her brother from a photo of a tattoo on his arm.
“I think he was overcome by the storm and disoriented,” Sophia Clay said. “That’s the only thing I can think of, because I knew how bad these storms can be. I knew I was scared.”
What is painful is that his brother was dressed for the elements. He confirmed through the coroner that his brother was wearing a coat and layers. He had his hat on. “It wasn’t enough,” he said.
Brianna Sacks contributed to this report.