Historic New York snowfall causes nearly 90 car crashes, shuts down airport
Jenny Goldsberry
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A snow storm that began early Friday morning has resulted in 88 car crashes in New York alone.
The storm affected southern Ontario and western New York and produced 6 inches of snow per hour it was active, according to New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The Democratic governor filed an emergency declaration request with FEMA to receive federal aid due to the storm.
“We actually hit 6 inches an hour, which is why we believe we will be making history with having the most amount of snowfall in a 24-hour period in the state of New York,” the governor said at a Saturday press conference.
THUNDERSNOW HITS BUFFALO: MONSTER STORM BATTERS NEW YORK WITH UP TO 4 FEET OF SNOW
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Press Conference
Roughly 280 people have had to be rescued from the storm thus far. Among them were 70 tractor-trailers and 10 passenger vehicles accused of violating the city of Buffalo’s travel ban, which has resulted in over 390 tickets being issued to other drivers. Most of Buffalo has been freed from the ban as of Saturday evening, but South Buffalo is still under the order.
While there are 70 National Guardsmen deployed currently, Hochul sais she plans to up that number to 150.
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The Buffalo airport also closed temporarily on Saturday due to snow on its runways. It received 13.9 inches of snow according to the National Weather Service, which is a new daily record for the date. It reopened just in time for the Buffalo Bills NFL team to board a flight to Detroit for its Sunday game against the Cleveland Browns. Their game was originally slated for New York, but was relocated due to the weather.