The people of Buffalo, New York, continue to deal with the effects of a record snowfall that ceased most activity in the city for days. Among those facing the crisis were truck drivers from across the country who found themselves stuck on area highways for more than a day.
Take, for example, Samuel Martin, a truck driver from Silverton, Oregon, who hauls for an Indiana-based company. Martin, who was headed to Massachusetts, found himself stranded in the Buffalo area for thirty hours and says no one ever came by to see if he had water, food, or fuel.
Luckily, Martin — who stocked up on fuel and other essentials just before the snow hit — was well prepared for the challenge. But he says it was clear other drivers were not so ready for the crisis. “A lot of other people were in little cars and had to actually abandon their cars,” Martin said.
Martin expressed frustration with local and state government agencies for not making a more visible effort to help people stranded on western New York highways. “There was not even one real humanitarian effort to the hundred-plus trucks that were just in the area of the road that I was,” he said. “They never brought any kind of water.”
Martin added: “Nobody ever came to see how we were doing until the snow plows finally made it to us.”
Martin says he passed the time by watching movies on his laptop and communicating with friends and family using his cell phone.
Mic Brennan, a driver from Vandalia, Ohio, was also stranded by the blizzard. He says he watched snowmobile riders try to save some stranded motorists, but because he was worried that his truck would be towed at a heavy expense, Brennan stayed with his vehicle.
The good news is that, with the arrival of milder weather, truckers like Brennan and Martin have been able to resume their journeys. But the good people of Buffalo now face a new threat: flooding, resulting from rain and the melting of huge amounts of snow.