HAMBURG, N.Y. — Snowvember 2 stopped parts of Western New York in its tracks, and Friday marked one year since the event, when a mighty band of lake effect dumped tons of snow from Evans to South Buffalo and Cheektowaga.
The region’s second taste of Snowvember was even less sweet than the first, and Hamburg highway superintendent Ed Hughes was here for it all.
“You know you try and prepare for the worst but what is the worst?” Hughes said.
Hamburg one year ago was swallowed by snow in a very short period of time.
“Falling at 6-8 inches per hour.”
“80 some inches of snow,” Hamburg Emergency Manager Sean Crotty recalled.
There came a point when plows couldn't keep up. Streets became clogged with stuck cars and heavy equipment was called.
“Hours and hours and hours of very labor-intensive effort,” Crotty said.
Crotty helped steer the town’s emergency response ship during the storm, although he started aboard a different vessel.
“It's the worst kept secret. I was on the cruise in the Caribbean,” Crotty said.
He managed messaging while sailing past Cuba advising people to "stay off the roads" and reaching out of help. Crotty said he eventually booked a flight into Pittsburgh with the Buffalo airport closed and made the drive home.
“I wasn’t so much wishing I was here but trying to do my part,” he said.
Meanwhile crews back home really handled what Hamburg was dealt, 7 feet or snow in some spots. At the height of the storm highway superintendent Ed Hughes recalled Camp Road looked more like a parking lot.
“Our guys couldn't get back and forth, and it was just a mess,” said Hughes, who revealed one year later that stuck town crews even ran out of food.
Hughes spent the one-year anniversary buying non-perishable food and stocking up the highway garage.
“If that does happen again at least our guys can eat,” he said.
There were plenty more lessons learned by Hamburg town officials, but applicable to all one year later is their decision to adapt and take new steps to be prepared.