According to officials, the Friday-implemented ban expired at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday. Days after it was implemented as a fatal snowstorm swept over the region, at times reducing visibility to nil, a travel ban has been lifted in Erie County, New York.
On Wednesday evening, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told reporters that the prohibition could be lifted since the roads were in good enough condition.
Brown stated that, “It has been 6 days, some people have not been able to restock groceries, to restock medications, to get to medical appointments, and being able to lift the travel ban safely now will allow people to do those important things.”
Although the restriction has been lifted, there is still a county-wide state of emergency, and Erie County has a travel advisory in effect while cleanup is ongoing. Brown urged people to drive with caution and only when absolutely essential.
According to Brown, the majority of the city’s streets are navigable, and by the end of the evening, he anticipated crews to have driven down the middle of each residential street.
According to him, there were more than 450 pieces of equipment plowing and moving snow on the streets of Buffalo, and many traffic lights were still malfunctioning.
A large portion of the United States was plunged into a deep freeze by the severe storm, which also disrupted flight schedules during the peak holiday travel week and created life-threatening conditions as more than 1 million households and businesses lost electricity.
According to the National Weather Service, the storm dumped more than 20 inches of snow in certain areas of New York, including nearly 52 inches at Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Vermont were also reported to have had weather-related fatalities.
According to Buffalo Officers Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia, police have finished responding to all pending calls for welfare checks, assistance for stranded drivers, and reports of bodies.
According to Gramaglia, search and rescue personnel were going back to certain areas on Thursday to check on areas where bodies had been reported but were unable to be verified due to the amount of snow or the hazy location.
According to County Executive Mark Poloncarz, 17 of the snow deaths in Erie County were discovered outside, and four others were located inside a car.
Many people lost their lives as a result of emergency services being delayed, or due to heart problems brought on by shoveling or blowing snow. Nine of the fatalities, he added, were caused by persons who had no heat in their houses.
In a tweet sent on Wednesday night, Poloncarz said that 500 members of the National Guard had checked on nearly 850 people who had experienced prolonged power disruptions for wellbeing.
According to PowerOutage.us, 400 consumers were still without energy in New York early on Thursday as power was being restored.
Only three Buffalo residents were without electricity on Wednesday night, despite the fact that more than 20,000 people were without power there at one point during the storm, according to mayor Brown.
On Wednesday, as temperatures climbed into the 40s in certain parts of New York, city buildings, facilities, and roads were opened.
The Buffalo Niagara International Airport reopened on Wednesday after being shuttered since last Friday.
