Flood Watch as Buffalo’s Snow Melts
A flood watch was posted Saturday as the region’s record snowfall melted, and about 350,000 homes and businesses still had no electricity.
The storm gave Buffalo its two snowiest October days on record.
More than a day after nearly 2 feet of snow buried western New York, travel bans were lifted, stores had reopened and the Buffalo Sabres game was on.
However, National Grid still had nearly 230,000 customers without power and New York State Electric & Gas reported 120,800 customers in the dark.
“This is going to be the worst [outage] we ever had in western New York,” said National Grid spokesman Steve Brady.
Mike Burke, 52, had to go to a restaurant to warm up.
“I spent the night on the couch, dressed a little more heavily than normal -- a sweat shirt, street clothes, with a quilt,” Burke said at Daisies restaurant in Lackawanna. “I was just happy that the temperature wasn’t down below freezing.”
Because temperatures were in the 40s, the snow was rapidly melting and the National Weather Service posted a flood watch for the area.
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