LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - FEBRUARY 3, 2019 by Lynne Belluscio As I write this, folks are posting stories of the storm of 1977 on the LeRoy Then and Now Facebook page and I’d like to share a few stories. The storm was an anomaly. The weather forecasters had followed a storm across the country, but didn’t anticipate anything unusual. But what they didn’t figure into the equa- tion was the fact that Lake Erie had frozen over by December 14 - - earlier than anyone could remember. And usually, when the Lake freezes over, it re- duces the amount of snow that is produced with a lake effect snow. But it started snowing in October. And it snowed every day from the 26th of December until the storm on the 28th of January and the snow was dry and light, so when the storm hit on the 28th of January. It was the wind that caused the havoc. Buffalo already had 59 inches of snow, and Lake Erie was piled high. The wind blew all the snow east. At times, the wind reached 60 miles per hour. And it was cold!! The tempera- ture dropped from 26 to zero in four hours. Buffalo even reported lightning at 11:30 in the morning. People remember looking out and seeing a dark wall of clouds moving in. George Henry was work- ing at Genesee Memorial in Batavia: “I was in the cafeteria which had lots of windows and it was like someone turned off the sun. I was stranded there five days. Besides being an or- derly we staffed the ambulance. We went out on the Thruway and took turns walking in front of the ambulance with a lit flare in our hand from car to car looking for injuries. On day 3 the hospital gave me a jeep to go get operating room person- nel so they could do surgeries.” Doug Snell: “ I worked for Stafford Hwy Dept. Stories too numerous to mention. . . wish I had a cell phone then.” Don Wenzel: “ I remember jumping off the top of the barn after the storm into what seemed like 20 foot drifts. It was proba- bly more like 12 feet but still a lot more snow than I’ve ever seen before or since.” Nancy Kirchner, “I spent the night at Lapp Insulator sleeping on my desk.” Carol Lathan Bonaquis- ti: “ I was sitting in the kitchen, doing book work - - got dark – turned on the lights. My phone rang. My mom: ‘Your dad just called from the light at Main 5 & 19. Can’t see. Di- recting traffic. Call Carol to go to school and get your kids. This is going to be bad.’” Dan Hardy got his by a snow plow: “ Driving my snowmobile down Morganville Road and got hit by a snow- plow. Pete Shaffer jumps out to ask if I’m ok. Front blade was crooked but was still running. I said I’m ok. Pete jumps back in the snow plow and takes off. I limped back home. Parked it and didn’t go out for a week.” Kathryn Krzewinski “My dad drove our white Torino on route 33 (490 was shut down) while your dad and a friend, Al Scinta took turns walking along the car to make sure it was still on the road.” Sharon Frost Left work in Rochesster early Friday afternoon. Got as far as a friends house in Gates and didn’t move until Monday about noon. Headed home on Chili Road. Got to the top of Fort Hill by Crockers and the state Police had a road block and told me all the roads were closed. They didn’t want to let me pass and I told them I had just come from Gates and had a mile or two to go. They let me go through right down the mid- dle of Route 19 until I got into the Village and home to Lin- coln Avenue. It was a mess.” Russ Lyons said that the snow at Keeney Road and Route 5 was up to the power lines. Of course one of the best stories hit the front page of the LeRoy Gazette. Lucy Wilcox had come into town to stay with her parents, the Vincis on Church Street. Her mother and husband were stuck in Roches- ter. She went into labor. Some- one got in touch with Dr. Bruce Baker and he came on a snow plow and performed his first home delivery, James Michael Wilcox. There were hundreds of stranded travelers. The Wiss opened its doors, and across the street, the Presbyterian Church became a refuge. Jim Forbes wrote: “ The Oscar Meyer man got stuck in town and stayed at our house. He called his boss - said free hot dogs for every- one staying at the Presbyterian Church .” And then there were a cou- ple of stories about getting the guina pigs home from school. - - Ahh the memories - - as we wait to see what is blowing in this week. The Storm of ‘77 1 Church St. | LeRoy, NY 14482 | 768-2201 | www.lpgraphics. EMBROIDERY MAKES GREAT GIFTS FOR YOUR FAMILY • FRIENDS • ETC. CUSTOMIZED T-SHIRTS • HATS • JACKETS • TOWELS