Drifting snow leads to dozens of accidents
Drifting snow from high winds made for some rough driving conditions in Niagara County Friday. As YNN's Antoinette DelBel explains, the weather conditions led to dozens of accidents.
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NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. — A car on Campbell Boulevard in Lockport was one of many Friday that were found in the ditch.
"Dayshift handled 33 cars in ditches where tow trucks had to respond and pull them out, and then there was another 12 accidents where there was property damage, and then four injury accidents," said Sgt. Aaron Schultz with the Niagara County Sheriff's Office.
The Niagara County Sheriff's Office was busy throughout the day receiving calls of cars spinning off the road from slippery conditions due to drifting snow.
"Plows have been working all day long,” said Schultz. “The problem is that it's a large county and with this wind, as soon as you plow the road, it starts building up again."
Wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour hit most of the region, causing light poles and telephone poles to sway.
Snow was blowing off the roof of the Tops on Portage Road in Niagara Falls, dumping it onto customers walking in and out.
But it's drivers who deputies were urging to use caution.
"When you're driving on dry pavement and come across a drift unexpectedly, you can lose control quite easily," said Schultz.
Lewiston police had issued a travel advisory due to the high winds and drifting snow.
Winds also caused some power outages. The Conference Center in Niagara Falls was briefly left without power, along with more than 1,000 residents throughout the entire county.