Buffalo: the hidden disaster - Up here in the Great Lakes,

[hedgehog]

we love to kid about stocking up and then just relaxing when there is a snow event. That's fine for some salaried people. The problem is, a lot of people had to use personal time and/or vacation time this week while the roads were closed. What's worse, a lot of people who get paid by the hour will have no paycheck at all next Friday.

[greatlaurel]

1. The people missing work and paychecks have been worrying me. This will make for very tough holidays.

The State of Ohio was always incredibly stingy when these weather disasters hit. In the Appalachian Region, there can be deep snows and almost always snowstorms start with a layer of ice. Then there are fall and spring ice storms. The state would never let people off due to emergencies probably because they would have to compensate the road workers and prison workers extra for making it to work.
At least the state gave vacation time that people could use to make up for lost time.

I am very worried about all the people who work jobs with no benefits to make up for the days off. These people need a lot of help to get by with all the missed paychecks. This is a huge disaster in more ways than just moving snow. Then we can expect flooding when the snow starts to melt.

Have there been any snowfalls anywhere close to this amount of snow. This appears to be unprecedented even for lake effect snow amounts.

[KamaAina]

2. They have to use personal or vacation time when an emergency has been declared?

[longship]

3. And the way early snow this week does not bode well.

I live in the Manistee National Forest in Newaygo County in rural west Michigan. My only income is Social Security. I am very frugal and my property is paid off. But winters are a real bitch. I often am trapped in my home due to the weather. I plan ahead for that. But I have never before been trapped this early in the season.

Thankfully my driveway was plowed out this morning (so I can get in and out) and the heating oil truck was able to get through yesterday ($3.72 a gallon!). Thank you for a very old, but very efficient furnace.

[hedgehog]

4. It gets better - at least one mobile home park was evacuated because modular homes have

a maximum roof load of about 3' of snow.

[Warpy]

5. That happened in Boston and the rest of southeastern New England in 1978, too

The working people always take it on the chin.

[Delphinus]

6. That blizzard of '78,

here in Indiana - I had to carry my 2-year old to a woman half a mile away so I could get into work. To this day I remember trudging through the snow - when I finally got to her house, I almost collapsed. He was not heavy - it was the walk through over a foot of snow that did me in.

[appalachiablue]

14. Thoughts go out to all people & workers in this terrible storm, good God & be safe.

Hi Delphinus, good to see you! I've thought of you since my 1st grumpy reply as a new DUer. Thought I'd done smthg. wrong Noticed people can get into some real spats on here esp. about language, meaning, but I'm learning & really enjoying. That '78 bad storm, brave of you to take your son for care, then go to work. In DC we had, for us, a Blizzard Feb. 19, 1979 President's Day, 20+ inches. Boyfriend had to get out by bus to attend father's funeral 4 hrs. away, heart attack from shoveling. Our Winter '09-'10 was also huge for these parts. Stay well!

[navarth]

7. Apparently the Bills are playing their Sunday game here in The D because the stadium is snowed under

So sorry to hear about Buffalo having a rough go of it. Welcome to Ford Field, make yourselves at home.

Buffalo has some better luck coming.

[ReRe]

8. And what if it does this all winter???

It will become "the winter of our discontent." I think Corps ought to pay when climate change catastrophes strike.

[FairWinds]

9. Hey Mr. Kama . .

You wrote . ."They have to use personal or vacation time when an emergency has been declared?"
Respectfully, the great majority of the working poor DON'T GET ANY PERSONAL OR VACATION TIME.

[daleanime]

11. Last sentence...

[lpbk2713]

10. There are threads here during the summertime ...

When a hurricane is approaching the US there are always people who say they
can't figure out why anyone would want to live in south Florida at that particular
time. I think you just showed us the other side of the same coin.

Just an observation, no offense intended to anyone.

[daleanime]

12. K&R....

past time we looked out for our working class.

[TBF]

13. That happens here too -

when hurricanes are coming. The office workers (at least in some industries) get their pay checks direct deposited early while hourly workers can't leave unless their employers ok it. People wonder why folks wait so long to leave. In many cases they can't because they are manning the gas stations, stores etc as everyone else is stocking up to ride it out or packing up to leave.