Snow-choked Buffalo faces 'urban floods' as temps rise

The Buffalo region, buried under more than seven feet of snow, now faces the threat of "urban flooding" as weekend temperatures are forecast to climb to near 50 degrees and begin melting the mounds of snow that has brought the city to a near standstill.

The National Weather service said Friday that the potential for flooding will rapidly increase for a wide portion of Western New York, including especially streams and creeks through the Buffalo metropolitan area.

Rain is also expected to add to the danger of rising water as temperatures begin to climb into the 40s on Saturday and near 50 on Sunday and at or above 60 on Monday.

Snow totals from the three-day harsh blast of winter reached around 7 feet of snow in Buffalo and in the towns to the south, including 65 inches in South Cheektowaga, 63 in Lancaster and 60 inches in West Seneca.

To prepare for the rising water, cities and towns began moving pumps and other equipment into place. Monday is expected to be the worst day for flooding as the higher temperatures sending water frommelting snow onto the ground faster than it can be absorbed.

"There's roughly the equivalent of six inches of rain in the snowpack that will essentially be released over two days," Deputy Erie County Executive Richard Tobe said Friday. "If it was released as rain it would be a monumental storm."

He said the high water would likely affect mostly basement and creeks. "It's not going to be this giant flooding like you see in hurricanes," he said.

The storms were blamed for at least 13 deaths in western New York, mostly from heart attacks and exposure. The latest was a 50-year-old man was found Friday morning in his car, which was buried in snow in Cheektowaga, police said. The cause of death wasn't immediately known.
Two other recent victims were two elderly residents of a nursing home that was evacuated amid concerns of a roof collapse, Tobe said.

"We know that relocating people from nursing homes is a very tough thing to do," Tobe said.

More than 50 people were evacuated from several mobile home parks in suburban Cheektowaga and West Seneca on Thursday because roofs were buckling.

Tobe said at least 90 small roof collapses involving carports and other structures had been reported by Friday morning, in addition to damage to a pharmacy and a metal warehouse operated by a Christmas decorations company, where damage was estimated in the millions.

There is little that Buffalo residents could do to prepare for or avoid the flooding, as a driving ban remains in effect in the city while emergency teams try to cut paths through the mounds of snow.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said Friday that snow crews had made at least one pass through almost all of the city's side streets and had removed more than 24,000 tons of snow.

While Buffalo was spared another round of lake snow on Friday, towns and counties to the south and east could still get hit by more snow through earlier afternoon, the weather service said.

Officials say they are also turning attentions to collapsed roofs, particularly in West Seneca where mobile homes are experiencing severe structure damage as a result of the very heavy lake effect snow.

More than 30 major roof collapses, most involving farm and flat-roof buildings, were reported overnight, officials said Friday.

Contributing: Associated Press