BUFFALO, N.Y. — 2 On Your Side found some of the hard working utility crews helping to restore power after the Thursday ice storm.
As you drove down roadways deeper into the Southtowns you could see the heavily ice-coated trees. It made them look like they were encased in glass, which made them brittle and quick to snap.
It's like what we saw on Taylor Road in Orchard Park with chilling activity as those drooping or snapped branches and limbs draped the power lines with extra weight.
In some cases they also came down on roadways like Jewett Holmwood in Orchard Park.
And then on Center Road in West Seneca, there was even part of a utility pole seemingly snapped off, which took down the power lines.
In an Orchard Park neighborhood like Dale Road off Timberlake, there was a small army of utility workers. Some were from West Virginia, Florida, and Alabama, and they had to tackle difficult backyard power line issues.
It left one lady and her husband to power up her generator to keep the basement sump pump running to avoid a very wet basement.
Karen told us that as friend had dropped off a generator they could use for that sump pump and that she hoped it would not be needed much longer.
Elsewhere down the street, another homeowner just tried to stay warm with a fossil fuel, which some in Albany may seek to take away in the future with the suggestions of the State Climate Action Council.
"We have a gas fireplace in the backroom, so it keeps the house warm," Tom Welch said. "Otherwise, we'd use the fireplace but that only goes so far. Particularly for this region. I thought about it today because the gas fireplace is my backup. If the electric goes out what's your backup."
Some of the crews may be working into the evening hours. There is also concern that higher wind speeds and pockets of frozen drizzle could affect more already weakened trees and power lines.