SnowStorm2000

	Shoveling snow off of roof		Shoveling a path Dec 28, 2001
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	Struggling Motorists Dec 28, 2001		City Streets were impassible Dec 28, 2001
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	Car Buried in Driveway Dec 28, 2001		Digging out a Store Front Dec 28, 2001
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	Piles of Snow Dec 28, 2001		Lone Pedestrian in the City of Buffalo Dec 28, 2001
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	Digging out Dec 28, 2001

--They say that when it rains it pours--or, in the case of the Western New York snow belt recently, when it snows, it snows! The Erie County Amateur Radio Emergency Service and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service found themselves literally snowed under just before Thanksgiving when more than two feet of "lake effect" snow covered the greater Buffalo area like a big, heavy winter blanket. More than two dozen amateurs volunteered to help their community through the severe weather that struck November 20.

Karl Weir, N2NJH--who's ARES Western New York District Emergency Coordinator activated an emergency net at around 7 PM that Monday evening on the KE2VW repeater in Arkwright, linked with the W2SO machine in Lancaster. ARES was put on standby status.

"At this point, the City of Buffalo and suburbs of Amherst, Cheektowaga and Lancaster had received 24.3 inches of snow in less than 24 hours," Weir said. Traffic was at a standstill, and hundreds--perhaps thousands--of schoolchildren found themselves stranded on buses, while many others were still stuck at their schools.

"Dave [Quagliana], K2MTW, was one of the teachers stranded with about 30-plus students at Buffalo Public School #28 who checked into our net," Weir said.

By 11:30 that evening, the net had closed for the night. Buffalo and Erie County were declared disaster areas, and motorists were banned from the roads as first-response emergency crews hit the highways. Stranded school buses were evacuated, and several shelters were opened.

ARES was activated at 7:30 the following morning in Erie County. Because he was snowbound, Assistant Emergency Coordinator and RACES Officer Eugene Kremzier, N2OBW, had to handle net control duties from his home. Weir says Erie County emergency services activated RACES with a specific request to garner as many 4x4 vehicles as possible and to establish a ham station at the county emergency operations center. Weir also got Jim Moxon, N2OSL--another AEC and RO--to begin an activation tree. ARES/RACES members were requested to check in on the repeater for instructions.

With a station established at the EOC, Weir said, "our first order of business was to take Red Cross people to examine the shelters and make any critical deliveries of food and medication." The largest shelter at a local fire station was staffed by Leigh Reichert, KC2VS. "Driving was very difficult as there was over two feet of heavy snow on the roads," Weir said.

The Millard Fillmore Hospital was happy to accept the assistance of three ham-driven 4x4s and an additional ham volunteer to assist in transporting medical staff, Weir said. In addition, he escorted Red Cross officials delivering medications to stranded residents.

By 4:30 that afternoon, the road crews had begun to open up major highways in the affected area to remove abandoned vehicles. The driving ban was lifted a couple of days after the snow struck the region. ARES and RACES stood down at the end of a very long Tuesday.

"I've received countless compliments from both the agencies served and the amateur community that monitored this activation," Weir said.