Five-plus feet of snow covered the Shriver farm and Miller home this week.
Story by Elizabeth Grams and Chris Meehan. Photos by Mary Shriver and Lynne Miller.
Buffalo branch members are all safe after five feet of snow fell in parts of their region this week. The total snowfall in some places is expected to reach seven feet by the end of Friday. The region has received almost as much snow in a single week as typically falls during an entire winter.
“It’s been brutal,” says Dave Grzybowski, who spent the week working to remove several feet of snow at his own home and at the nearby church where he works.
Highways and major roads are closed, with hundreds of vehicles still stranded and 12 people reported dead. A driving ban has been in effect in the southern parts of the city, where the snowfall has been heaviest. Schools and businesses throughout the area have been closed since Tuesday, either because they are buried in snow or because their workers are stuck at home.
A few branch members south of town got five feet of snow in 24 hours, but the majority of the branch had less snow, ranging from a few inches to a foot or two.
Greg and Lynne Miller live in Cheektowaga, one of the hardest-hit areas, and they were still snowed in as of Thursday afternoon. Like many, Lynne made an emergency grocery trip on Monday evening when the snow began to fall. “My cart filled with snow as I took the groceries out. It was blowing and snowing. Driving home I couldn’t see. I was praying all the way home, ‘Praise you, Jesus!’ My husband shovelled three times that night. In the morning everything was covered.”
“I haven't been to work for three days,” said John Gehl on Thursday. “Aside from the fact that it would be difficult to get to work (since the streets haven’t been plowed out), there would be no place to park if I got there!”
John explains that the lake-effect snow blowing in from Lake Erie covered an area shaped like a finger extending from the lake. Buffalo is situated on the northeast corner of the lake, so the eastward-moving snow hit mainly the southern part of town and the southern suburbs.
“We had a little thunder snow on Wednesday night,” says Arlene Meyerhoffer, whose home missed most of the snowfall. “There was booming thunder and snow for 15 minutes.”
Marge Stanley relied on her grandchildren to shovel her out of her home. She has lived in Buffalo all her life and says she has never seen this much snow dumped on the area. “I don’t think we’ve had anything like this, even in the blizzard of ‘77!”
Tom and Theresa Shriver live on a small farm south of Buffalo, where Tom raises turkeys as a side business and Theresa runs a craft shop. They have five feet of snow and counting outside their window, but they still hope to get their turkeys to the butcher this weekend before Thanksgiving and to host the annual open house for Theresa’s shop. Tom has been busy trying to keep some of the snow off the turkey pen and carving paths from the house to the barn and to the pen.
“Snowstorms have frequently kept us out of work and homebound for several days at a time,” Tom points out. “We’ve been through it lots of times over the 35 years we’ve lived here.”
He recalls doing the community’s Provident and Resourceful drill decades ago--living for a weekend without power or without using a car, for example. That drill has come in handy this week: the Shrivers are prepared with both city and well water, a wood-burning stove, and plenty of food in stock. Fortunately, they only lost power for a few hours this time.
By Friday morning, area residents were looking ahead to the next hurdles: removing snow and preparing for a rise in temperature this weekend, possibly with rainfall, that could cause massive flooding from melting snow. Many homes covered in heavy snow already have roof damage. Lynne was busy Thursday removing furniture and belongings from her basement in anticipation of flooding.
Bud Northway emailed the branch to cancel Thursday night’s prayer meeting in Black Rock, but branch members still plan to head to the neighborhood on Saturday morning to pray with neighbors at a soup kitchen.
“It’s nothing the hardy people of Buffalo can’t get through!” says Tom.
Responses
Susan & Stephen Busk says:
November 21st, 2014 at 2:48 PM
God bless you all-keep up the good work! We will be praying
for all of you as you shovel out and prepare for possible flooding.
Claudia Schmitz says:
November 21st, 2014 at 3:40 PM
God bless you and keep you safe and warm. I grew up in ND and many a winter was like driving in endless tunnels of snow, but this tops many of my memories!
jacquelyncurran says:
November 21st, 2014 at 4:04 PM
Our South Bend intercessory prayer team have been lifting you
all up this week, especially Elaine and all the people
mentioned in your October requests. God's blessing in this
challenging time. Jackie Curran
Eileen Horan says:
November 21st, 2014 at 4:19 PM
Thank you so much for the update. It really helps me to know how to pray. I'll be praying for your Turkeys and Craft Fair, Tom and Theresa. It was so nice to spend time with you at the MIC. Blessings on your whole branch and all of your outreaches! - Eileen
Norbert and Judy Schmitt says:
November 21st, 2014 at 5:23 PM
Dear friends of People of Praise in Buffalo!,we are all praying for you everyday we have been thinking of you and hoping God will protect you!
we are praying the rosary right now for you and your family.
God bless you .Take care. Your Friends in Christ. The Rockford Branch (Norbert and Judy Schmitt)
Jim Schenkel says:
November 21st, 2014 at 6:03 PM
Buff branch members, know that Muncie [home of the 4" snow-in] is praying for all of you.
Our son works in the IT Depts there [Erie County] and has spent most of the past 4 days & nights at the Declared State of Emergency Disaster Center HQ someplace around there.
They live in the neighborhood just southeast of the Black Rock area and didn't fair too badly snow-wise.
Hope you all get past the next period of rain without too much flood damage.
Make it a grateful Thanksgiving.
Linda Finke says:
November 21st, 2014 at 7:20 PM
God bless you'all! We were living on the 9th floor in January of 1978 when we got hit with the blizzard. I remember that the only vehicles on the road were snowmobiles and the jeeps. It was a mess! I will pray for all of you guys.
Chris Urbanski says:
November 22nd, 2014 at 10:24 AM
God bless you all, as a former Buffalo native this sure surpasses any thing I saw from the 40's on... Lord fill your people with peace and trust during this difficult time.
Chris Urbanski
Anne Brewer says:
November 22nd, 2014 at 1:33 PM
Lord, bless all the people in these hard hit areas. Give them neighbors and friends to bale them out and supply their needs! We rely on you Lord in all situations!
John Broxup says:
January 29th, 2015 at 12:39 PM
The worst part about this, for me, was being constantly turned away by cops when I tried to go into the storm 'zone' to help out. I was trapped in the northern suburbs with only 12" of snow with all the ways out of town closed except for the routes into Canada! What a difference just 5 miles can make, the sky overhead our family home was clear for the two days that the south towns got hammered!
This has to be the worst storm I've lived through, too bad I wasn't there for it!
-John Broxup, Buffalo Branch
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