Fierce Storm Shuts Down Buffalo

Tuesday, November 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) â€” Thousands of workers and schoolchildren awoke Tuesday in offices, supermarkets, hospitals and restaurants where they were stranded overnight by a storm that paralyzed the city with 2 feet of snow.

Abandoned vehicles, including school buses, clogged streets ``as far as the eye can see.'' All nonessential travel was banned Tuesday under a city state of emergency to give plows and tow trucks room to work.

Emergency medical teams had been on the job all night helping stranded motorists.

``We've had people that have been in their ambulances almost 24 hours now, and we've got to pat them on the back,'' said Mike Hughes of Rural Metro Medical Services. ``People are scared and there are a lot of people in need.''

The city that is accustomed to stunning snow amounts was caught by surprise Monday as the storm clogged streets in time for the evening rush hour.

``Timing is everything,'' Mayor Anthony Masiello said. ``If this would have hit at night, if this would have hit on the weekend, we would have been ahead of it because, quite frankly, we wouldn't have had all the vehicles on the streets and everybody trying to get home.''

Some 25 inches of snow fell Monday, the third-highest total for any 24-hour period on record in a city that is regularly pummeled by ``lake effect'' snowstorms that blow the length of Lake Erie. More than 40 inches have fallen this month. The sun was out again Tuesday, but an additional inch of snow was forecast.

A 65-mile section of the New York State Thruway was closed Tuesday between Buffalo and Rochester because of blowing snow.

National Guard units were ordered to help the city dig out.

``The problem is getting our snow plows out,'' Masiello said Monday. ``The problem we're having is the same problem the motorists are having.''

School bus drivers were told to take children to the nearest public building, including supermarkets, City Hall, hospitals, restaurants and government offices.

Authorities estimated that 2,000 youngsters couldn't get home after school Monday.

Workers at the FBI building set out on snowmobiles to pick up pizzas for two busloads of schoolchildren and 30 adults who sought shelter there.

``I'm looking out the window and it is absolute gridlock,'' FBI spokesman Paul Moskal said Monday. ``There are four school buses, three (city) buses, four lanes of abandoned cars as far as the eye can see.''

Some anxious parents didn't know where they children were.

``I'm calling everybody I know and everybody's phone is busy,'' said Gregory Ipolito, who tried to locate his 8-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter after they boarded separate school buses to go home. He knew his children would be dropped off at a safe place but didn't know where.

``I just want to know where the heck they are,'' said Ipolito, who himself was stranded at The Buffalo News, where he works in advertising.

There was no immediate word on his children Tuesday; Ipolito had left the building.

Some children never even left their schools. Day care workers had their hands full with children who could not be retrieved by their parents.

Buffalo's heavy snow is the result of cold air absorbing warmer moisture as it blows across Lake Erie. A storm dumped 14 inches on the city Saturday.

The new storm started just as Monday's morning rush hour ended, falling at up to 3 inches per hour and shutting down Buffalo Niagara International Airport by 3 p.m.

``It took me three hours to drive two miles,'' said Joyell Kuchta, 23, who works at Children's Hospital. ``I was afraid I would run out of gas so I stopped at a coffee shop.''

Rep. John LaFalce, D-N.Y., was among those who had to trudge through the snow to shelter after leaving his car.

``I regretted that but the car in front of me was abandoned, the car to the left of me, the car to the right of me,'' he said. ``There was nothing I could do but abandon my car. I went four blocks ... and it took me four hours.''

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On the Net:

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