Governor Hochul: “The storm will hit intensely around 6 p.m. tonight. You've heard me warning it for days, you've heard our County Executive warning it, you've heard our Mayor warning it, and now it's happening...I'm announcing, in consultation with the County and the City, a full travel ban for all passenger vehicles in Erie County starting at 9 p.m. tonight.”
Hochul: “Travel now, not later. Take alternative routes or else you have a severe risk of being pulled over by law enforcement. We do not want you on the secondary roads once this storm begins.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul and local authorities announced that a full travel ban for passenger vehicles will be in effect for all of Erie County beginning at 9 p.m. Saturday to give plow crews time and space to clear roads during the overnight hours. This ban will be reassessed at 6 a.m. on Sunday. Additionally, all commercial traffic will be banned on all State, County and local roads in Erie County and on the New York State Thruway between Exit 46 and the Pennsylvania State Line beginning at 9 p.m. Saturday as well. This ban will remain in effect indefinitely.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning. As Governor, my number one priority is to keep New Yorkers safe. That's why I traveled here to Western New York to give details on what we know right now and what we've done in anticipation of what will be the most dangerous weather conditions in this area since the catastrophic Christmas blizzard of one year ago.
The storm will hit intensely around 6 p.m. tonight. You've heard me warning it for days, you've heard our County Executive warning it, you've heard our Mayor warning it, and now it's happening. Our teams have been preparing in advance for the worst case scenarios. Our agencies are all on high alert, coordinating with our very experienced local leaders and when I talk about local leaders who know how to deal with storms. Proud to be here by County Executive Mark Poloncarz, and our City of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, as well as our Commissioner Jackie Bray, Homeland Security, Commissioner DOT Marie Therese Dominguez, Director of the Thruway Authority, Frank Hoare, Commissioner of the Department of Public Service, Rory Christian, from the New York State Police, Colonel Daniel Cooney, and Brigadier Daniel Michael Bank from the New York National Guard.
Minutes ago, I received the latest forecast from our state of the art Weather Risk Analysis Center. They can accurately, more than ever before, pinpoint what is going on in real time. And here's what we know, as I said, the conditions will be very bad at 6 p.m., heavy snowfalls at rates of two to three inches per hour overnight in some of the heaviest areas. Now, for weather weary Western Yorkers, one to two inches an hour, two to three inches an hour, sounds manageable, except let me put that in perspective for you. Even one inch an hour, it's very challenging for our State, County and City, road crews to keep the roads clear at three inches an hour. It's almost impossible even to keep the Thruway a clear with the plows that we have. And you combine that the snow with wind gusts expected over 65 miles an hour. If you look at Lake Erie right now, the waves are crashing. So, this is the confluence of what we're talking about. But add into that the snow, the wind, and frigid temperatures, wind gusts, and chills leading us down to the single digits of zero to nine degrees.
These conditions will make travel extraordinarily dangerous – white out conditions nearly impossible to see. And while Mother Nature is wildly unpredictable, even using the best technology, I can tell you this – the location of the wind bands is changing literally by the hour. But our forecasts right now are predicting that the storm will be at its fiercest in the South Towns and in South Buffalo Sunday in the afternoon.
You may see clear skies in the morning, but don't be fooled. The bullseye of the storm is predicted to hit midday Sunday afternoon right during the scheduled Buffalo Bills game. And that is why I'm pleased to announce that in the interest of keeping both Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh fans safe, I just spoke with Commissioner Roger Goodell who shares our concern that safety should be the top priority.
I've also spoken to the Mayor and our County Executive about keeping our fans safe. The NFL has agreed with our assessment, that we need to postpone tomorrow's playoff game until 4:30 p.m. Monday afternoon. It will continue to be played at Highmark Field right in Orchard Park. It's all part of our critical efforts to keep New Yorkers, motorists, and fans safe from this wildly unpredictable storm.
As you know, yesterday I declared a state of emergency for the North Country and Western New York. for the North Country and Western New York. I also announced restrictions on travel for empty trucks and tandem trailers. But given the deteriorating conditions, and in consultation with the New York State Thruway Authority and the DOT, to keep motorists safe, I'm announcing, in consultation with the County and the City, a full travel ban for all passenger vehicles in Erie County starting at 9 p.m. tonight.
We'll reassess the ban tomorrow morning. It will not be safe to be out on the roads tonight. Local and state law enforcement will be enforcing these bans. And the full travel ban gives us the opportunity to try and keep on top of the snow removal to keep the roads safe and clear. We'll closely monitor the conditions overnight, and again, determine whether we need to extend that travel ban at 6 a.m.
Again, that is a full travel ban. Passenger and truck vehicles on top of the existing truck ban for empty trailers and tandems. So, it's 9 p.m. it begins, all the way on the Thruway from exit 46 in Henrietta to the Pennsylvania border.
Now we do not want trucks evading the ban. We have seen what happens in the past as recently as this past week when tractor trailers that should not have been on the road blocked traffic causing pileups. The ban will be in effect on all these roads for now. Now is the time for these truckers in particular, whether they're coming over the Peace Bridge, coming up from Pennsylvania or coming from the East, make sure that they monitor the conditions right now.
Travel now, not later. Take alternative routes or else you have a severe risk of being pulled over by law enforcement. We do not want you on the secondary roads once this storm begins. It's also the time for our residents to be doing their shopping this afternoon. Stock up on what you need. Do any deliveries. Whatever you have to do, the sooner you can get it done, the safer you'll be.
We're also setting up warming shelters opening at 5 p.m. tonight. Erie County Community College South Campus, Windom Elementary School, Orchard Park in the proximity of the stadium. The state will be providing water, meals, and nine warming shelters as well in consultation and cooperation with the City of Buffalo.
As I reported yesterday, in anticipation of this impending super storm, we already have 114 members of the State National Guard deployed right here right now. We'll be adding more if necessary. We have search and rescue teams standing by, 33 state tracked vehicles, 50 four by fours, 28 military vehicles. Also, working with Erie County Snowmobile Club if rescues are necessary.
The other concern is power lines come down, people are in the cold. We have to get the restoration of power up as soon as possible. We have over 11,000 utility crews working statewide, 2,100 plows and 120 tons of salt.
Safety tips. You've heard them all. My colleagues will reinforce them. But stockpile now on your medication, go to the pharmacy, go to the grocery store. Do whatever you need to do now, my friends, because this is going to be a dangerous storm. I'd rather we be safe than sorry later. For the next 24 hours, we'll be updating New Yorkers using all of our tools. You'll hear more about emergency alerts from cell phones from our County Executive.
You can also go to the New York Alert System, sign up for alert.ny.gov. And again, continue to monitor your local forecast. Again, full travel advisory in effect, the ban goes into effect at 9 p.m. tonight. The Buffalo Bills game will be relocated to Highmark Stadium at 4:30 on Monday. And with that information, I'd like to turn it over to County Executive Mark Poloncarz.