ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has lifted the county's Travel Advisory with the two-day lake-effect event starting to subside.
The advisory, which was issued Saturday morning amid a winter storm advised travelers to stay off the roads. It was lifted around 6:30 p.m.
Poloncarz said the decision to implement the advisory was made after discussing current weather conditions with the Erie County Department of Public Works and Erie County Emergency Services.
County plow crews worked through the day Friday, early Saturday, and throughout the day to keep the roads clear as snow continued to quickly fall.
Commissioner William Geary told 2 On Your Side that he had more than 30 crews working Saturday across five different districts: Hamburg, Clarence, Aurora, Concord, and Harlem.
The Hamburg district, which stretches from West Seneca to Gowanda, was one of the busiest on Saturday. At times, snowfall rates were around 2 inches per hour making cleanup difficult.
Crews in the Clarence district focused their attention on the southern portion of their assigned area. The entire district runs east of Transit Road from Elma to the northern border of Erie County.
In addition, the City of Buffalo currently has 30 pieces of snow removal equipment out, as well as 20 crews picking up garbage. Snow removal is currently focused on the south and east parts of the city where lake effect snow has been the heaviest.
City residents living in Black Rock, Riverside, and West Hertel neighborhoods are also being advised that garbage pickup is still happening today.
However, it might be slower than usual. Residents are also being told that if their trash doesn't get picked up on Saturday, to then leave it out for garbage pickup on Sunday.