Last Day in Buffalo

I am putting the finishing touches on the forecast for WGRZ's Noon show as of 11:35 AM. The number of folks without power is now down to 63,000. Residents are eagerly awaiting to hear if FEMA will declare portions of Erie County a Federal Disaster Area. 2000 crews are still working on cleaning up debris, mostly trees and tree limbs. There are several large school districts closed all this week. And, a few small communities are under a boiled water advisory.

Live Precision Dopper 2 (the station's radar) is, unfortunately, detecting more rain coming across Lake Erie. This is not good news for this area. Many basements still have water in them. Anywhere between 1/2 to 3/4" of rain is expected to fall between now and tomorrow morning.

I am sad to leave tonight. It breaks my heart to see all the damage and to know that for some folks, it is now day EIGHT without any power. I am glad I could pitch in to do a small part to help out our colleagues up here in Buffalo; It was nice to be back.

I'll see you back in DC Tuesday -- have a great weekend.

Kim's Buffalo Blog Wednesday

Wednesday 10:32 AM

 

Things are improving slowly here in western New York.  While Buffalo is used to getting lake effect snow (honestly 20+ inches is a lot, but not all that uncommon here), what made this event so difficult is the fact that it came so early in the season with most of the trees having all their leaves on them.  The result has been major power outages.  At the height of the event there were as many as 400 thousand households without power.  As of this writing, that number has been reduced to a little over 100 thousand.  Unfortunately it may take until the end of this weekend before all the power gets restored.

 

It is amazing because some areas received as much as 30” of snow last Thursday, with a range of 8 – 22” surrounding the heaviest snow band, and practically all of it is gone.  There have been 12 deaths associated with the storm ranging from one person being struck by a falling tree limb, weather related traffic accidents, and now, carbon monoxide poisoning.  150 National Guard troops are helping out with tree removal and FEMA is meeting with local officials to make a determination on Major Disaster Declaration.

 

Yesterday I did some live shots for WGRZ’s noon, 5, and 6pm shows.  This morning I was back to forecasting the weather for their morning show.  It’s funny how easily I remembered how to pronounce some of the local towns around here.  Also, some of the localisms came right back; I automatically remembered to put a “the” in front of numbered highways.  For example people commute to work on “the 90” or drive in from “the 219”.  Could you imagine our traffic reporters saying “There is an accident on ‘the’ 495”?

 

Speaking of the forecast, today we’re getting a break from the rain – dry and in the 60s will go a long way towards evaporating all the moisture in the ground.  Unfortunately, more rain will likely be coming in by Thursday afternoon – something folks who are still without power (and thus the ability to use sump pumps in their flooded basements) don’t need.

 

I’m working the morning shift again tomorrow, then, I’m off to row in the head of the Charles in Boston.  I’m hoping the weather cooperates.  Enjoy the nice weather while you have it in DC and I’ll see you next week.

 

KIM MARTUCCI

WUSA 9 Morning Meteorologist

 

 

I got in late Monday night and even though it was dark, I got the sense I was heading into a war zone. Honestly, all the beautiful tree lined streets for which I remember Buffalo (from having lived and worked here 8 years ago), looked like broken match sticks. I couldn't believe how quickly 2 feet of snow could virtually disappear, save for the piles that were still plowed up and around the tree debris lining the streets.

Now the main concern here is not only the lack of power for over 150 thousand residents, but the added rainfall on top of the snow melt. With the saturated soil, additional rain and breezy conditions, it is making it difficult for the power crews to climb the trees and dislodge the broken limbs, let alone fix the power lines.

As of 11am Tuesday, there is an Urban & Small Stream Flood Advisory in effect.

I will be here through Thursday, lending a hand to our sister station WGRZ. Another one of our sister stations from Tampa has also sent a crew. Yesterday, the station was on the air from 5am - 4pm non stop.

Then they went on again from 5pm to 7pm.

Everyone looks exhausted.