Bad timing, lack of planning lead to devastating fallout in Buffalo storm: U.S. media

NEW YORK - The devastating impact of the storm in Buffalo City, in the northeastern US state of New York, is in large part due to a collision of a historic blizzard, bad timing, and a dearth of emergency management resources, reported The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Also playing a part is the immense difficulty of trying to force residents who are largely desensitized to severe weather to abandon much-needed jobs, as well as their holiday plans, according to the newspaper's interviews with lawmakers, community organizers and disaster experts.

Already taking dozens of lives in Erie County, which contains Buffalo, the blizzard struck right before Christmas, when many already short-staffed government agencies were further trimmed down for the holiday, said the report.

It also hit on a Friday -- a critical payday for many people who live paycheck to paycheck (27 percent of the city population lives in poverty) -- a day on which many may have planned to buy gifts, food, or supplies before an especially cold Christmas, it noted.

Amid the storm starting last week, although county officials had been imploring people to stay home and for businesses to close, those were merely advisories, according to the report.

Erie County only issued a travel ban shortly before 9 am on Friday, giving motorists only a 41-minute head's up as many of them were driving to work, it said.

Meanwhile, "unlike past severe weather events that usually hit the small towns south of Buffalo, this storm bore down on the city, putting many more people in harm's way and paralyzing infrastructure," it added.