Buffalo snow storm: Southtowns clean up continues

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HAMBURG, N.Y. — With all that snow dumped by the lake effect machine in Hamburg and Orchard Park, some heavy machines are now engaged in getting it off the roads and out of residential areas.

That snow removal process for Hamburg and Orchard Park, which were both buried under five or even more than six feet of accumulation, now requires machinery and muscle power. Now there's some mounting frustration.

First in regards to the machinery, large payloaders were at work Sunday on Southwestern Boulevard and in some neighborhoods. They worked through the night in tandem with huge dump trucks provided by private contractors to further clear out and widen some major roads and streets after smaller plows couldn't cut it in spots.

The huge loads snow were transported by a procession of trucks to the ECC South Campus where a mountain of snow is taking shape in an open parking area.

This came after roads like Route 20 were finally cleared of stranded vehicles including many tractor trailers. Some were still just getting pulled out Sunday.

Back in residential areas, plenty of manual digging also going on and there was some frustration form people like ruptured disc sufferer Michael Murphy.

"Got my driveway all cleaned up except the last three feet, four feet and the loader came dumped four loads into my driveway - not the yards like they're supposed to do. I asked him if he could remove it and he said they're not allowed in our driveways - even though he just buried me," Murphy said.

Of course the government and ultimately taxpayers are going to have to pay for all the private contractors using all that big equipment. That is why the governor has applied to the federal government for an emergency disaster declaration. They will have to carefully account for all the money spent on contracts and then turn that into the government for that reimbursement. That is just as we have seen them do with a lot of the other storms which we have seen here in Western New York.

In fact the Town of Hamburg Highway Department put out a detailed list of where their vehicles and those of assisting contractors were working overnight on Sunday into Monday.

From the town website:

***Town of Hamburg Highway Department Overnight Snowplowing Plan***

Update: November 20, 2022 8:40 P.M.

The Town has 27 payloaders on the roads alongside its plow trucks and will continue clearing snow throughout the night. We will provide an update in the morning.

Update: November 20, 2022 5:45 P.M.

Update: November 20, 2022 12:54 P.M.

Thank you for your patience and please check back for updates.