A county worker clears snow from the sidewalks around County Building #1 and the Old Courthouse following this morning's mild snow shower. More snow is expected over the next 24 hours or so with as much as an inch accumulation.
There are still nine locations in Genesee County where homes are without power, but no major outages. At any one location, no more than five National Grid customers are without power.
Over the weekend, according to National Grid spokesman Steve Brady, at one time or another, 5,000 customers in Genesee County were without power.
Most power outages were resolved within less than 10 hours, often much less.
"Yes, Mother Nature's Christmas surprise has kept us hopping," Brady said.
National Grid is offering dry ice and bottled water to any customers who are still without power until 6 p.m. today at the Orleans County Emergency Management Office, 14064 W. County House Road, Albion.
When the Tonawanda Creek crested at 11.94 feet at 6:30 p.m. yesterday, it wasn't anywhere near its historical high.
In March, 1942, the river overflowed at 14.5, making the resulting flood the worst in Batavia history.
It caused an estimated $500,000 damage and put many people out of their homes for days.
Greg Brockway, of Pembroke, brought in these two pictures this morning from the 1942 flood. They were taken on the Southside in the area of the Jackson School showing Hutchings, Otis and Swan.
The last time the Tonawanda crested over 12 feet (considered the major flood level) was 1998 when it hit 12.44. It hit 11.71 in December 2008, and twice in 2009 it exceeded 10.5 feet, once in February and again in March.
The creek has crested at more than 10 feet on 24 ocassions in the more than 60 years the National Weather Service has been measuring creek levels.
Law Street (above, from the western end), and Route 98 (below, from the northern end) remain closed, though the floodwaters have receded significantly since last night.
City fire is assisting the occupants of a house on Law Street that is being evacuated because of high flood waters.
They're assessing whether to pull the electrical meter on the house.
The house is surrounded by two feet of water.
While on scene, the commander reports that a vehicle is now on Law Street and seems to be floating in the water.
Meanwhile, on Watson, the sewer supervisor is requested to the scene because there is apparently a sewer back-up.
UPDATE 12:18 a.m.: The residents who requested to be evacuated were. All of the other households on Law were checked by firefighters. Residents either didn't have basements and all of their utility connections were above water, or they had already shut off their utilities. A firefighter confirmed the car in the top photo did float a bit. The driver was cited and a family member picked her up.
Here are more flood pictures from this afternoon. The first three I took and the rest are from readers.
Above, the Tonawanda Creek at the bend off South Main Street.
This is the back of Nate Fix's property, which 18 months ago the DEC carved up a bit to build new flood control.
Peaviner Road. The roadway is to the right side of the picture.
Photo submitted by Steve Ognibene. The vehicle stalled on Jackson Avenue. According to Steve, the driver was cited and the car was towed.
Ron Burroughs kayaking on Ganson Avenue. Submitted by Diane Burroughs.
Maria Casper submitted these two pictures of Philip, Kayla and Andrew kayaking in Kibbe Park.
Flooding in Pavilion submitted by Brittany Hart.
Kiwanis Park, Batavia. Submitted by Keira Stehlar.
Law and Walnut, Batavia. Submitted by Phil Adamski.
Berries and ice. Submitted by Jason Smith.
National Grid replacing a fallen utility pole in East Bethany. Submitted by Doug Yeomans.
Fog and ice. Submitted by Scott Ogle.
Jackson Avenue. Submitted by Steve Ognibene.
Kibbe Park. Submitted by Steve Ognibene.
Tonawanda Creek, behind the Courthouse. Submitted by Kyle Couchman.
Tonawanda Creek, behind the courthouse.
The location of the manmade falls/dam on the Tonawanda behind the courthouse.
The Upton Monument and the Old Courthouse, Ellicott and Main.
Law Street, Batavia.
Kibbe Park, Batavia.
Kibbe Park, Batavia.
National Grid crews on Trumbull Parkway.
Centennial Park, Batavia.
Centennial Park, Batavia.
Centennial Park, Batavia.
Outside City Church, East Main Street, Batavia.
The following roads and streets are closed because of flooding:
Weather radar shows more rain coming.
If you know of a road closed because of flooding that isn't on this list, e-mail howard@thebatavian.com.
More than 2,100 National Grid customers are without power and have been since about 2 a.m.
Freezing rain apparently caused some transformer issues.
The outage area is triangle-shaped with the western tip near Clinton Street Road just north of East Main Street and spreading east nearly to Le Roy with the northern boundary just north of the Thruway and southern edge running along Route 63 to East Bethany.
National Grid expects power to be restored by 5:30 a.m.
UPDATE 5:17 a.m.: Earlier this morning, the power outage affected 4,538 customers. And, emergency dispatchers are aware there are people in the county without power. No, they can't help you get your power restored. It's best to restrict calls to dispatchers in situations like this to actual emergencies or others calls for service.
UPDATE 5:50 a.m.: There are multiple reports throughout the county of wires down, wires arcing and flooded basements. Town of Batavia's chief has requested all available manpower to the two fire halls to be ready for new incoming calls.
UPDATE 10:35 a.m.: There are at least a dozen power outage areas in Genesee County. The two largest at the moment are in the Elba area, with 317 customers without power. Power has been out since 4:49 a.m. and a repair crew is not yet assigned to the outage. In Bergen, 1,060 customers are without power. The outage started at 7:04 a.m. and there's no ETA for repairs. Fire departments from throughout the county are still handling calls for power lines down, trees down and cellar pump details.
UPDATE 12:19 p.m.: The largest power outage reported in the county now is in the Byron area, 838 customers. Power reported out at 5:01 a.m. A repair crew is assigned. No ETA for repairs.
This morning, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch for Saturday night into Sunday morning, but left this weekend's flood watch in effect.
There is a chance of freezing rain, which would create slick driving conditions, though weather conditions are unstable enough that the precipitation could turn to rain or snow.
"There still remains uncertainty with respect to the surface temperatures Saturday night," the weather service said. "A degree or two warmer or colder will greatly vary the impacts of this event."
Heavy rain combined with snow melt and ice-clogged drains could lead to flooding Saturday and Sunday.
If the weather is cold enough Saturday night, ice accumulations of a half inch are possible.
Winds will be from 20 to 30 mph.
Warm weather and heavy rain could lead to flooding this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
A flood watch is in effect from Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening.
A warm front is lifting into the lower Great Lakes tomorrow and is expected to stall there over the weekend.
This will result in period of heavy rain across WNY.
Storm drains may remain blocked my snow, which could lead to flooding in low-lying areas. There could also be flooding along creeks and streams.
Jamie Waff wanted us to see, for a change, some snowflakes instead of just big piles of snow. He took a picture of these flakes on the scope of his muzzleloader. Waff is chief of the Pembroke Volunteer Fire Department.
We can expect a lot more of these beautiful flakes to fall on Genesee County. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for heavy snow. It's in effect through 9 a.m., Sunday.
Up to 10 inches of snow could fall on Batavia by tomorrow morning.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning that will be in effect until tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.
Heavy snow with accumulations of one to two inches this afternoon and five to seven inches tonight.
Storm totals could reach up to six to 10 inches by tomorrow.
Winds are expected to be 15-20 mph with low visibility on the roadways.
A winter weather advisory has been issued by the National Weather Service for all of Western New York from 6 a.m. Saturday until 6 a.m. Sunday.
We can expect to see four to seven inches of new snow during that time.
Tomorrow will be the the fifth straight day of snow accumulation. Here are a few pictures of how people are dealing with the heavy snow.
Lake effect snow off of Lake Ontario about 11:30 a.m. today on Redfield Parkway in Batavia.
Lee Grant of Redfield Parkway uses an extra large shovel for the big snow. Grant says the snow is so deep in his backyard he has made a track with his snowblower for his two small dogs to walk on.
Kathy Owen lives just down the street from Lee Grant and says using two shovels at the same time really works best when clearing the driveway and sidewalks.
Paul Sherwood says he has been clearing the ice from the wheel wells of his cars going on 50 years. He did not seem to mind.
Steve Zocco and his son Steven, who is in fourth grade at St. Joseph's School, decide that playing in the snow bank would be a fun way to enjoy the large accumulations of snow.
And yes, there are areas of Wyoming County with close to two feet of snow.
By the end of this weekend they might have three feet.
Laurie Conrad from Bennington sent this photo of her front porch. Her son Ethan has measured about 28 inches of snow in their backyard.
Top two photos submitted by our own Lisa Ace and bottom two from Ali Huey.
A band of lake effect snow is continuing to gradually drift northward, bringing more heavy snow to Genesee County.
The snowfall rate in this band is one to two inches per hour or more. Snow will accumulate on roadways very quickly, according to the National Weather Service.
The lake effect warning is in effect through this evening.
We've been notified of one weather-related cancellation in the county. Pembroke High School's play schedule for tonight is cancelled. A second show may be added for Saturday.
John Kennedy School, closed for the past two days because of power issues and heating issues, will be open again tomorrow.
We received a couple of snow photos from readers this morning. Above, from Maggie G.
From Raymond Richardson.
UPDATE: Here's a photo from yesterday taken at Hy-Hope Farms in Stafford on Horseshoe Lake Road. Sent in by Lori Totten.
UPDATE: Two more photos.
Submitted by Tiffany Ivison.
Submitted by Lisa Falkowski.
Had enough snow yet? Good, because more is on the way.
A lake effect snow advisory has been issued for Thursday, starting at 10 a.m. through 1 a.m., Friday.
As much as two to four inches of snow could fall Thursday and another two or three inches Thursday night for storm totals of four to seven inches.
Winds of 10 to 20 mph are predicted.
With blowing snow, visibility could be dropped to a quarter of mile at times and places.
Travel could be difficult at times.
Here are some of the snow pictures we received in response to our request to see what it looks like in Genesee County today.
We also got a couple of pictures from Wyoming County and since they got hit a little bit harder, I thought we'd include those (the bottom two pictures).
Top photo submitted by Jessica Radam.
After just a couple of minutes outside, Julie Ingalls' dog was snow covered.
Submitted by Mat Fenton.
Submitted by Angela.
Submitted by Sam Tambe, from Attica.
Submitted by Nora O'Neill from Orangeville.
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