In the city of Buffalo, the county seat of Erie County in the State of New York, a storm has hit in recent days that has dropped more than five feet of snow in some locations.
Following this extraordinary atmospheric event, according to local television station WGRZ, the county administration made the decision to deploy 100 police officers to enforce the traffic ban issued in recent days, as often this does not is respected, creating dangers, but above all, interfering with rescue operations.
According to local leaders, many citizens continued to resort to the use of private vehicles, which were not suitable for circulation on the roads made impassable by the amount of snow that had fallen in recent days, which has far exceeded one meter in height. The presence of vehicles blocked on the roads has obviously slowed down the snow removal process. Furthermore, the obstacles created by the cars blocked on the road prevented the emergency vehicles from reaching those in need of assistance in a timely manner. According to USA Today, three victims were caused by the delay in relief efforts.
“There are a lot of roads that are completely blocked right now, and people are trying to drive on these roads or trying to enter these neighborhoods, and they can’t” said Mark Poloncarz, an Erie County executive. Which after he launched an appeal to the population “Please stay home. If it’s an emergency situation, call 911.”
Some videos published on the net show that the New York State Police have equipped themselves with a small mechanical shovel called Rook, modified ad hoc with a forklift, with which the cars stopped on the roadway are lifted and placed on the edge of the roadway, to allow the passage of snowplows.
Fortunately, it appears that the worst is over, and that in the coming days the situation may improve in the city as well as throughout the county.
