Snow Day
City Digs Out From Another Blast Of WinterBy Robert Rizzuto rrizzuto@post-journal.com
Article Photos
More than a foot of fluffy snow fell on Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties overnight into Friday, and the result was a messy morning commute with several closed schools and community organizations.
Among them was Meals on Wheels of Jamestown, which provides three meals a day for the area's elderly citizens.
Despite the closure, people in need were not left to wait until another day to eat, as Barrie Yochim, executive director of the program, said there is a policy to prevent that type of situation.
''At the beginning of the winter, we distribute emergency meals for just this type of day, but unfortunately, we were closed recently and many of those meals were eaten,'' he said. ''We did have some mercy meals left and if someone calls, we can get those out to them.''
Yochim said the decision to close or not is usually an easy one, but that wasn't the case Friday because although several school districts were closed, many others were still open. He said that although the group has Jamestown in its name, it actually serves most of southern Chautauqua County.
''We cover a lot of ground and aren't exclusive to the city,'' he said. ''At first, we thought we would make a go of it, but when the county executive implemented the inclement weather policy, we took another look at it. We made the decision to close in order to keep our volunteers safe.''
According to the National Weather Service at Buffalo, much of Chautauqua County received more than a foot of snow in the storm while Ellicottville and Perrysburg in Cattaraugus County were around the 2-foot mark.
The weather for the rest of the weekend shouldn't be as harsh, according to meteorologist Mike Pukajlo, who said things will change slightly Saturday afternoon.
''Saturday morning we will probably see a couple additional inches in the north and increasing winds from the east with a high in the mid-20s,'' he said. ''There is a possibility of more snow into the evening, but the current lake-effect event will be winding down by midday Saturday.''
People may be relieved to hear that although there will likely be some flurries on Sunday, no accumulation is anticipated and the sun will make an appearance. It will still be chilly however, with highs in the upper 20s.
Mother Nature's Friday morning surprise proved trying for local crews who were working to clear the streets and sidewalks, but as the snow tapered off in the afternoon, some bare streets and sidewalks were visible, and seemed to be appreciated by motorists and pedestrians alike.
Throughout the day however, emergency crews were extremely busy, according to Chautauqua County Sheriff Joe Gerace, who said that there were several dozen vehicle complaints and accidents reported from the area.
He said that vehicle complaints can range from reported vehicles off the road to ones that are hampering snow-removal efforts.
In Busti around 10 a.m., a 23-year-old Mayville resident was driving south on Big Tree Road when she moved to allow a plow to pass by but got too close to the side of the road and lost control of the car. The car then traveled across the northbound lane, went into a large ditch and rolled onto its side. The driver was taken to WCA Hospital buy Lakewood firefighters while her passenger received minor injuries and signed off on treatment on the scene.
''All the calls were pretty spread out throughout the county,'' he said. ''Having schools closed does help because there is less traffic on the roads, but it's still a challenging and busy day.''
