Stories from

Snow scene photos from Alabama by Kristen Smith

 

A rollover accident is reported at 1081 Lewiston Road, Alabama.

Entrapment reported.

Alabama Fire Dispatched.

UPDATE 2:47 p.m.: Oakfield is assisting with Alabama's call. Town of Batavia to fill-in for Oakfield.  An Oakfield responder also reported a vehicle off the road near Bliss Road.

UPDATE 2:49 p.m.: All occupants are out of the vehicle and in a nearby residence. The vehicle is on its roof.  Traffic control requested. "I've got tons of cars here."

UPDATE 2:52 p.m.: There were three people in the vehicle. One minor injury. All units can continue non-emergency.

A house is reportedly filling with smoke at 7736 Lewiston Road, Batavia.

No flames showing.

Town of Batavia dispatched with mutual aid from Oakfield.

UPDATE 1:59 p.m.: A chief on scene reports nothing showing, house evacuated.

UPDATE 2:10 p.m.: An interior crew reports no smoke in the basement.

UPDATE 2:45 p.m.: No fire.

At 2 a.m. in the early morning after Christmas, City of Batavia workers were out and about Downtown clearing away snow from streets, sidewalks, and parking lots.

A loader is reported on fire in a hay barn at 9290 York Road, Le Roy.

Le Roy Fire and Pavilion Fire are dispatched.

UPDATE 2:23 p.m. Second alarm. Engine from City of Batavia, Stafford, Pavilion and Bergen all requested to the scene. The closest hydrant is East Main at York.

UPDATE 2:30 p.m.: The loader has been moved from the barn. The fire in the barn is out.

UPDATE 2:31 p.m.: The assignment can be held to what is currently on the road. Second alarm responding units canceled. 

New closers and cancellations are being announced.  For the previous list, click here. Email your closures and cancellations to news@thebatavian.com

• Empire Tractor is closed today
• Northgate Church to cancel Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Services Scheduled services that were to take place on Saturday and Sunday at Northgate Church (8160 Bank Street Road) and Arbor House (350 Bank St) have been canceled due to travel bans and current weather conditions. There will be an online service available beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday. To view the online service, visit northgatefmc.com or Facebook.com/northgatefmc
• Batavia First Presbyterian Church. With the continued storm and travel ban in our county, we have made the decision to cancel in-person worship and go to an online option. The online Christmas worship will go live at 7 pm today, December 24. It will have a mix of prayers, readings, and music. Here is the link to use: https://www.facebook.com/fpcbatavia/videos/.
• The East Bethany Presbyterian Church Candlelight Service scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m. is canceled. 
• Services at St. Padre Pio Parish are canceled tonight and tomorrow.
• Byron Presbyterian Church has canceled tonight's and tomorrow's services.
• All Christmas masses canceled at Resurrection Parish 
• Buffalo Niagara International Airport is closed until 11 a.m. Monday.
• St. Paul's UCC Attica has canceled Christmas Eve services at 11 p.m. tonight.

The National Weather Service is predicting that a large band of lake effect snow that also already dumped several feet of snow on Alabama and Oakfield is going to move south into the Center of Genesee County, including the City of Batavia.

In response, City Manager Rachael Tabelski has declared a state of emergency for the city.

The Local State of Emergency has been declared due to hazardous weather conditions, high winds, and increasing snowfall accumulation. This order also includes a travel ban on all City of Batavia Streets and a parking ban across the city.

The order is in effect for five days or until it is lifted by the City Manager.

It is a Class B misdemeanor to disobey the order.

So far, it might be classified as a Christmas miracle, said County Manager Matt Landers.

With dozens of people trapped in vehicles for hours and cars all around Oakfield and Alabama buried in up to five feet of snow, emergency crews have yet to uncover any fatalities.

County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens said with hours of the storm yet to weather, and emergency responders working around the clock, he's still nervous about people's safety, but he, too, is hoping for a Christmas miracle.

Hens spent all night with County Highway workers running heavy loaders with big plows attached ahead of convoys of search and rescue crews, and he said the situation is the worst he's seen in his life.

"It is frustrating because we knew people really needed to help, and he just couldn't get to him," Hens said. "It seemed like no matter which way we went, whatever road we went down or whatever piece of equipment we took, it just was zero visibility. I mean, you could literally not see past the hood of your own car. Even though we had loaders with huge blades on them, and the Sheriff's were using MRAPs, the military vehicles that they've acquired, and we had tracked vehicles and groomers that are used for snowmobile trails and things like that, you just couldn't see where you're going. It was just extremely frustrating and scary."

Hens said in those conditions -- strong winds, zero visibility, 20 degrees below zero with windchill, a person outside without protective gear couldn't last long.

"You just can't see where you're going," Hens said. "It's disorienting. It's cold. The wind is ripping right through everything you've got on. Like I said, every little hair on your body accumulates ice and snow. If you didn't have goggles on, you're out of luck. The one time I jumped out (of my truck) to put a strap on a truck to pull somebody out, I forgot to put my goggles on, my eyelashes froze together. That was interesting."

While many people have been rescued, there's no way of knowing how many people haven't been rescued, hence the hope for a miracle. 

"I'm still relatively nervous about it because, I mean, there's still a lot of cars that have not been found yet," Hens said. "So there are still people in cars that have been there for a long time. There is the possibility that people got out of their cars and went looking for their own help, to a neighboring house or something like that and like I said, it is so disorienting. If you got out of your car last night, you wouldn't have known that there could have been a house 20 feet from you, and you wouldn't have seen it."

A large number of cars being located after getting stuck on Route 77, Route 63, Ledge Road, Judge Road, etc., have Canadian or out-of-state license plates. That's a factor of the state closing the Thruway and motorists relying on Google or Apple maps.  They got no warning that there was a travel ban in place or that a blizzard was passing over the very routes Google and Apple were suggesting.

"We probably would have had to have dealt with 30 or 40 cars, maybe, of our own people," Landers said. "But now we're having a couple of hundred cars. This is the GPS that was sending everybody right through Route 63, Route 77, right through the heart of the worst of the storm."

Landers said he isn't pointing a finger at the state.  He understands the need to close the Thruway, but there needs to be a better plan, and the state needs to lean on GPS mappers so that the maps do a better job of warning drivers of critically dangerous conditions.

"The solution can't simply be close the Thruway, and now it's a free for all into the small communities like Genesee County, Alabama and Oakfield," Landers said. "So it's something that I have reached out with the state about this morning. And again, it's not to be pointing the finger. It's just a matter that we have to learn from this because this situation was exasperated multiple times over by the fact that we get people from Los Angeles, people from Ohio, people from all over the place going on our back roads."

Hens said he hopes the governor's office will lean on Google to fix its technology.

"A lot of Canadians we talked to last night said, 'I was following my Google Map. I was following my Google Map, and I saw the red lines on the Google Map for traffic, and we just thought it was a traffic jam,'" Hens said. "They didn't know it was a lake effect snow band. And most people have never been in a lake effect snow band, so they didn't even know what it's like."

There are still hundreds of personnel -- volunteers and paid staff -- out on search and rescue missions.

Landers praised their dedication, hard work, and willingness to put their own safety at risk to help others.

He also marveled at all the residents and business owners who have been open to provide food and shelter to stranded travelers.  He said the county's human resources director, Anita Cleveland, took in a family of five overnight after the deputy who rescued them had become stuck in the snow.

Currently, there are 11 warming shelters open, and they are caring for 582 people.

"It's all hands on deck," Landers said.

And it's not over.

While the large lake effect snow band that hovered over Alabama and Oakfield most of the night has moved north, giving rescues some respite to get their work done, it's expected to drive south again, not only passing over those communities again but also into Batavia.

"The band is forecast to slowly move south across the county, I think, beginning about two or three o'clock this afternoon and will be kind of centered around the county, more of a traditional Airport, Batavia, kind of alignment for most of the afternoon and early evening from what the National Weather Service says," Hens said. "With snowfall rates of one to two inches an hour, so I would say from my experience, Darien, Pembroke, Alexander, and Batavia will take the brunt of it from a severity standpoint, and then it'll taper off. It looks like conditions will deteriorate for most of the center part of the county later this afternoon."

With the storm expected to last well into the night and perhaps into Sunday morning, Hens isn't just nervous about the safety of people out on the roads, he's nervous about remaining operations. People are tired and equipment is being heavily used.

"I'm just nervous that we're gonna have equipment breaking," Hens said. "You know, we've been using it pretty heavy now for 24 hours straight in some pretty wicked conditions. ... I'm nervous that someone's gonna get hurt or equipment is gonna get broken, and then we're going to have the band come back through, and we're going to be caught sideways a little bit, but fingers crossed, like Matt said, we need a little bit of a Christmas miracle."

Members of the Genesee Snopackers have been out all night and into the morning assisting search and rescue crews locate and rescue stranded motorists in the Alabama and Oakfield areas, Vice President Nate Fix reports.

Fix said he's been working with fellow Snopacker Tony Johnston since about 9 p.m.

They've deployed the Snopackers groomers to assist rescue convoys, which includes two MRAPs from Orleans County and Livingston County along with five Sheriff's patrol vehicles and the Oakfield Fire Department.

"We have successfully rescued over 25 people some would not have made any longer and needed immediate medical attention," Fix said."We covered from the Oakfield Fire Hall to a mile west of Macomber Road, leading the convoy back to Oakfield with rescued people. We then went Route 63 toward Batavia Townline Road, Maple to Ledge Road, and all the way to the Indian Falls Fire Hall where we took more survivors.

When he provided the report, about 30 minutes ago, the crew was back on Ledge Road and moving toward the Tonawanda Indian Reservation. They were on their way to rescue a family of five. 

Photos submitted by Nate Fix.

UPDATE: Johnston and Fix back at the Snopackers garage after 15 hours of search and rescue work.

 

As of 7 a.m., Ken Lauer says Route 33 is pretty much blocked by some tractor-trailers.  Route 77 seems OK "but you gotta be nuts to be driving," he says. "Too much blowing to estimate snowfall, but drifts are two to four feet.  Crosby on the corner is open.  I’m at the bakery if someone needs warmth and a hot beverage.  Looks like Santa Amazon is in need of Rudolph and some large tow trucks."

Email weather-related photos to howard@thebatavian.com or text to (585) 260-6970

Jason Smith's dogs in Batavia are a bit unsure about going outside.

Photo submitted by Leah Buckel. "This tree narrowly missed our house! Unfortunately, part of it did hit my husband's car."

We're starting our Day #2 coverage of Winter Storm Elliott in Genesee County.  This post will be anchored at the top of the home page until further notice.  For Friday's coverage, click here.

See also these stories we published Friday night:

• City and County closes Friday but essential services remain open
• Elliott continues visit throughout Genesee County: more than 2K customers with power outages
• County Highway crews heading to Route 77 in Alabama to try and rescue stranded drivers in whiteout conditions
• Motorists rescued, fed, kept warm during travel on Friday
• A community of emergency response assists those in need during storm

Throughout the day, a persistent, large band of lake-effect snow stretching from Lake Erie to Alabama and Oakfield has hovered in place. As the satellite photo above shows, it's been pretty stationary and so far shows no signs of abating. The band is 15 miles wide.

The National Weather Service predicts that blizzard conditions will continue throughout the Niagara Frontier overnight. 

Dispatchers continue to report multiple motorists stranded in the northwest quadrant in the county with some occupants reporting hypothermia.  There have been several motorists rescued already, most taken to various warming shelters, a couple to UMMC for treatment.  

There are about 2,000 National Grid customers without power, and for most, no ETA on power restoration. 

There is a travel ban in effect for Genesee County and for the Thruway.

This post will be continuously updated, except for a break for sleep, until either the storm ends or we start a new post. While it is being actively updated, it will be anchored at the top of the home page.

UPDATE 12:37 a.m.: There is a convoy of emergency responders on Route 77 heading toward Route 33 retrieving people, and then they will proceed on Route 33.

UPDATE 12:41 a.m.: An emergency responder reports being stuck on Route 63, and another responder advises they can't get to him and advises they go to the Alabama Station #1.  "We're stuck well before that."

UPDATE 1:09 a.m.: An MRAP from Orleans County is now assisting with rescues.

UPDATE 1:50 a.m.: Tim Hens says that it's slow going trying to clear roads.  Judge Road is impassible, also Lewiston Road. The crews are trying Townline Road now.  The whiteout conditions are making the work impossible.

UPDATE 2:35 a.m.: Taking a break, or trying, to get some sleep.

UPDATE 9:04 a.m.: A convoy of rescue teams just completed going through Route 77 at Judge and is heading north.  There is also a rescue convoy operating around Sumner Road in Darien.

UPDATE 9:07 a.m.: The "Dollar" in Family Dollar in Eastown Plaza blew off overnight. (Reader submitted photo). Submit photos to howard@thebatavian.com or (585) 260-6970.

Also, Bethany's UTV is en route to Alabama to assist with rescue efforts.

UPDATE 9:12 a.m.: A rescue convoy has reached a group of cars in Alabama and are checking for occupants. A dispatcher asks for car descriptions "so we can clear some of these calls" and is told, "Some of the cars are buried in four or five feet or snow. We'll do our best.  Most people are telling us are in the Alabama Hotel, patrons are telling us."

UPDATE 9:19 a.m.: A fire police commander in Oakfield reports he's about two minutes from the Hall, and another chief is "taking over command and relieving me."

UPDATE 9:20 a.m.: A crew commander reports that there are about 100 people at the Alabama Hotel, and they all report they're doing well.  The convoy will try to head east and make it back to the Oakfield Fire Hall.

UPDATE 9:26 a.m.: A crew is heading east on Lewiston. The State Police from Orleans County is coming to the area with tracked vehicles. They will check north and west. There is also a crew heading to Macomber and Knowesville.

UPDATE 9:30 a.m.: East Pembroke chief says he has enough four-wheel vehicles to send to Alabama but doesn't have the manpower available to operate them. He's checking to see if there is enough manpower to deploy them.  The Indian Falls chief reports that the State Police have four tracked ATVs at his hall, ready to be deployed.

UPDATE 9:34 a.m.: For more reader-submitted photos, click here.

UPDATE 9:37 a.m.: A Darien crew is heading to Alabama to assist.

UPDATE 10:40 a.m.: All of the people are out of their vehicles from the Niagara County line to Alabama Center, a responder reports.  There's also a semi-trailer blocking Route 5.  A firefighter is checking an unknown odor at a residence on Lewiston Road.

UPDATE 10:51 a.m.: The travel ban for Genesee County will be partially lifted at noon.  Click here for more information.

UPDATE 11:07 a.m.: A crew is heading out toward Townline Road after leaving the fire hall. That crew is going out of service for while once it reaches its hall.

See also: Genesee Snopackers assisting with search and rescue efforts during storm

UPDATE 11:12 a.m.: "We're trying to stop cars at Route 77 and Ledge north because they keep trying to get through, and there is no place to put them."

UPDATE 11:16 a.m.: That odor at a residence on Lewiston Road; they had an issue with their furnace. The furnace has been shutdown. "They are good with electric heat."

UPDATE 11:25 a.m.: Multiple times last night and tonight, fire chiefs have been informed that Mercy EMS ambulances were not available. A dispatcher just informed a chief in Indian Falls that Mercy is not responding to calls outside of Batavia. Darien's ambulance is fully staffed and standing by for calls.

UPDATE 11:27 a.m.: Byron's ambulance is dispatched to Le Roy for a medical call.

UPDATE 11:38 a.m.: An Elba chief reports Route 98 at Townline and Edgerton is closed and impassible with five vehicles "stretched across the roadway."  Also, a crew is going to be sent to Indian Falls to stop traffic from coming north.

UPDATE 11:43 a.m.: There are no operators with the vehicles on Route 98.  A rep from Torrey Farms believes the operators are at the school.

UPDATE 12:53 p.m.: The last vehicle on Judge Road has been unstuck, and the driver is being sent to Indian Falls.  Resources are getting redeployed to Batavia. Route 77 north of Route 5 "is turning into a parking lot in some ways."

UPDATE 1:04 p.m.: See also, County leaders counting blessings in midst of 'wicked storm'

UPDATE 1:12 p.m.: State of Emergency declared for the City of Batavia.

UPDATE 1:20 p.m.: Alabama Fire paged for a replacement crew to respond to Station #1.

UPDATE 1:31 p.m.: See also, Weather-related closures and cancellations

UPDATE 1:42 p.m.: A crew is heading to the TA to pick up gas for a man currently at the Indian Falls Fire Hall.

UPDATE 2:48 p.m.:  Supplies are being taken to Indian Falls for Alabama and Pembroke. 

UPDATE 3:19 p.m.: Bethany Center Road is now open.

UPDATE 5:02 p.m.: National Grid reports 757 customers without power, down from more than 1,700 earlier today.

UPDATE 5:28 p.m.: Alabama Fire had a call but couldn't get to it because "Route 63 is unpassable for us."  So Oakfield is trying to try and respond from their side of 63.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m.: Akron Road is also unpassable.

UPDATE 5:41 p.m.: See also, Winter Storm Elliott: update from Hochul

UPDATE 6:15 p.m.: Le Roy's UTV assignment to Oakfield is back in service.

UPDATE 6:24 p.m.: A crew has picked up "plenty of supplies" at City Fire and is heading back to that affected zone.  "Good. We'll have another mission when you get here," the assistant chief is told.

UPDATE 6:58 p.m.: Fire commanders are trying to keep as few emergency vehicles on the road as possible for call responses.  Route 77 is unpassiable. Mercy EMS has started responding to calls outside of Batavia but staging outside the snow-impacted area while firefighters respond to incidents.

UPDATE 7:19 p.m.: An emergency responder reports, "conditions are deteriorating out here again."

UPDATE 7:27 p.m.: An Alabama crew is on a medical call on Route 77 and needs assistance getting the patient out of the house.  It's been difficult to get additional help there.  An MRAP is responding to assist.

UPDATE 7:30 p.m.: Dispatchers are receiving calls that Route 77 at Route 5 is impassable because of all the tractor-trailers along the roadway. A Mercy medic in the area reports, there is one lane available for thru traffic, "but I wouldn't recommend it for future calls."

UPDATE 7:59 p.m.: A volunteer in Alabama has received a call from a Newstead firefighter stating that Erie County received a call from a woman with a child that has been trapped in a car at Tesnow and Wright roads since yesterday afternoon. Forest rangers in the area are going to offload their snowmobiles and head to that location, and bring the occupants back to the Indian Falls Fire Hall.

UPDATE 8:56 p.m.: There is a truck stuck on Clinton Street Road with two adults and a child.

UPDATE 10:04 p.m.  I'm not saying this is the last update to this post but it may very well be.  We're unsticking it from the top of the home page.  We will continue to provide coverage as news developes.

With a high degree of concern for people trapped in their cars in the area of Route 77 and Judge Road, County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens, along with three county highway personnel driving three heavy loaders/plow trucks, are leaving Batavia in an attempt to rescue them.

No other emergency personnel in fire trucks, rescue trucks, or patrol cars have been able to reach them.

"I've got three highway guys putting their lives at risk, my life at risk, to try and save them, but I would feel bad if we didn't try," Hens said.

Hens was just leaving the City of Batavia, driving behind the highway trucks and said visibility was already down to nearly zero. He passed a semi-truck stuck in the snow in front of Tops.  There was about a foot of snow in that location.

Deputies have reported drifts of snow as high as five feet surrounding the cars that are stuck in Alabama.

"We have a pretty high level of concern," Hens said. "Some people have been out there nine, 10 hours. I know there are people who are hypothermic at this point.  I'm not sure we will be able to reach them.  It's just such bad visibility. I'm not even sure we will be able to get there, to be honest."

There has been a heavy, large lake-effect snow band stretching from Lake Erie into Alabama and Oakfield all day.  The National Weather Service reports it is likely to be in place until at least midnight.

"It might be there until midnight tomorrow," Hens said. "This storm is going to revival '77 in its intensity.  It's maybe not as wide or as broad but for people under the snow band, it will be."

Photo: File photo of Tim Hens from 2018 at Genesee County Legislature meeting.

UPDATE: here's a four-second video from Tim Hens showing conditions on the road to Alabama.

Park Road by Alex's. Photo by Nick Volpe.

To submit your weather photos, email them to howard@thebatavian.com or text them to (585) 2160-6970

Lewiston Road. Photo by Nick Volpe.

Veterans Memorial Drive. Photo by Nick Volpe.

A residence on Townline Road. Alabama.  Photo by Dave Bencic.

Whiteout conditions on Batavia Oakfield Townline Road. PHoto by Dan Carmichael.

Photo by Dan Carmichael.

State Street, Batavia. By David Austin

A two-car accident is reported on Route 77 in Darien.

Unknown injuries.

Darien Fire and Darien ambulance dispatched.

A motor vehicle accident with injuries is reported at 1534 Lewiston Road, Alabama. 

One person has a head laceration. 

Alabama Fire is dispatched.

There are reportedly multiple vehicles off the road in the area.

UPDATE 3:10 p.m.: Alabama Fire has the patient at the Fire Hall awaiting Mercy EMS's arrival. 

Press release:

TRAVEL ALERT - ALL VEHICLE BAN IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE: Due the high wind, winter storm, and blizzard warnings in Western New York, a BAN ON ALL VEHICLES is in effect on I-90 from exit 46 (Henrietta) to the PA line and I-190 from I-90 to exit 22 (Route 62) until further notice. See real-time traffic cameras at thruway.ny.gov/travelers.

There is smoke reported inside the residence at 7140 Weatherwax Road, Elba.

No flames showing.

Elba Fire dispatched.

A motor vehicle with a head injury reported in the area of 7689 Oak Orchard Road, Batavia.

Town of Batavia Fire, Mercy EMS dispatched.

A tractor-trailer vs. multiple vehicles accident is reported at Macomber Road and Judge Road, Oakfield.

Oakfield and Mercy EMS dispatched.

Injuries are reported.

A first responder reports a complete whiteout.  Fire police were dispatched to shut down traffic.

UPDATE 11:51 a.m.: One minor injury at the scene, a sign-off, and two other vehicles involved moved to the Alabama Fire Hall.  

A motor vehicle accident is reported at Lewiston and Lockport Road, Elba.

Unknown injuries.

Elba Fire, Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 11:22 a.m.: One vehicle is blocking. One person with a minor neck injury.