BUFFALO, N.Y. — Cleanup from the storm continues in the City of Buffalo where crews have been out all day getting to the residential streets.
Buffalo's Department of Public Works Commissioner tells 2 On your Side that contractors and city employees have around two-hundred pieces of equipment out there right now cleaning up the snow around Buffalo.
Monday night, the Buffalo Department of Public Works is focusing its cleanup efforts on South Buffalo and Kaisertown, the parts of the city hit the hardest.
"The rest of the city is actually in decent shape. I'll say we've been able to get to a lot of the streets, we've got a lot of good clearance. We know there are still some trouble spots here and there, but all around the city we're servicing all of the roads and thoroughfares, but a special emphasis on the southern part of the city right now," said Nathan Marton, Buffalo DPW Commissioner.
The private contractors the city brought in started on the residential streets right away with DPW crews tackling the mains and secondaries. They also put to use some of the lessons learned in 2022, including better communication and being more proactive about where to stage crews and equipment.
"In the city, 11 p.m. the night before the storm, we put equipment with our fire and police stations knowing that if they had high levels of snow and they were going to have some problems, we wanted to escort them. So we had some front end loaders with them. And then proactively putting contractors in place as the snow was approaching the city, so really as our contractors were hitting the streets, the snow was actually hitting the streets, as well, so we had it pretty timed out where rather than waiting 'til the end and responding, we were responding as the event was hitting the City of Buffalo," said Nathan Marton.
To move a lot of the snow, they're scooping it up and hauling it off to one of the city's four snow dumping sites.
The DPW Commissioner says it helps that Buffalo Public Schools are closed on Tuesday because that will take a lot of traffic off the streets. They plan to work through the night as needed to get ready for the next round of snow Wednesday.
"We've already had a couple of strategy sessions about that. We had a National Weather Service call a little bit earlier this afternoon, so preparing for that, we will get, I won't even say a break, we'll get a little respite. Maybe a couple of inches tonight and that front will move up, so you know, in the next 48 hours could see some snow. We're having the same conversations. How do we make sure we're clearing mains, secondaries, and residentials, so we're planning that out now," said Nathan Marton.
If you live in the City of Buffalo and your road still needs to be plowed, the DPW Commissioner says you should call 311. And if you live in South Buffalo or Kaisertown, alternate side parking is suspended until further notice.