CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — It’s been almost a week, and many Western New Yorkers are still feeling the effects of last week’s back-to-back lake-effect snowstorms.
Cheektowaga resident, John Wichrowski, is one of those people. He was watching TV Wednesday night when he heard a bang outside his house. His gutter had fallen off the side of his home.
“It sounded like a car wreck on my front lawn,” he said. “I looked outside, and I was glad it didn't come through the front window.”
Wayne Hunzinger, a sales advisor with Gutter People by Highland, said Wichrowski’s situation is one he’s seeing constantly this week. On Thursday alone, his company responded to 200 calls of fallen gutters due to the weather.
After the back-to-back lake-effect snowstorms and freezing weather, snow and ice are packing residents’ gutters and causing them to tear off the sides of homes.
“Once it starts to come down instead of going back up, it'll just pack your gutters and then once they're too heavy, they'll end up collapsing,” Hunzinger said. “You can see exposed rafter tails everywhere, insulation ripped down, pretty much bad news all around.”
It’s not just houses still feeling last week’s effects. Expected rainfall Thursday night paired with warming temperatures is putting all of Erie and Chautauqua Counties under a flood watch until Saturday morning.
Those conditions could put even more pressure on gutters already falling across the region.
“It's going to bring the rest of that snowfall that's sitting up on roofs down to your roof edge,” Hunzinger said.
Hunzinger said residents must be careful so that these gutters and ice don’t fall on them. Wichrowski said his weighed 40 to 50 pounds.
But calling an expert and waiting for them to respond is the best way to address the issue.
As a result, residents like Wichrowski are left with few options outside of paying the potential thousand-dollar price.