ALBANY COUNTY — As about two feet of snow fell in Albany County overnight, local officials put out a flurry of emergency notices. Poor visibility from the fast-falling flakes made it tough to clear roads, the county executive said.

Sheriff Craig Apple tweeted that a 12-year-old girl was buried in a snow bank on Middle Road in Knox.

Deputies learned that a family member was plowing the driveway and accidentally buried her, he wrote. “The family located the victim and started CPR,” the post said. She was transported to the hospital for further treatment.

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy credited two county highway workers — Lee Harnett, who is East Berne’s fire chief, and Jason Smith — with arriving first on the scene as the girl’s father was doing CPR.

“Lee jumped in and got the girl revived,” McCoy said at his Thursday press conference, adding that she is now doing well.

In Guilderland, highway crews helped an expectant mother get to the hospital.

On Thursday morning, a Guilderland highway truck responded to Crossgates Mall, where an expectant mother was staying to be closer to the hospital, Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber wrote in an email to town residents.

“Unfortunately, the family vehicle was stuck in the parking lot and a responding town ambulance had the same problem. The highway crew quickly cleared the way,” Barber wrote. “On route to the hospital, the ambulance got stuck in unplowed streets in Albany but was rescued by EMS staff in a personal vehicle with a plow.”

Barber added, “Highway Superintendent Greg Wier also helped shovel three CDTA buses out of snowbanks.”

Schools close

The two feet of snow, which buried buses, led Guilderland to cancel in-person classes for both Thursday and Friday. The district’s fleet is parked outdoors.

“It is not possible to clear the snow to access our school buses for the start of the school day on Friday,” the district wrote in an email to Guilderland families on Thursday afternoon. “Even if we delay the start of school by two hours, it is not enough time to free up the 50 school buses needed to complete our morning bus runs.”

So, Guilderland students in kindergarten through 12th grade will learn remotely on Friday, Dec. 18.

“We recognize that this is a change in our stated plans to close school for weather-related events, but we did not anticipate that today’s snowstorm would impact Friday’s school operations too,” the email said. “Given that it is so early in the season, we believe it is prudent to preserve an emergency day for likely events later this winter.”

Details about schedules for various grades are posted on the district’s website.

Free meals for any student who hasn’t already picked up, are available on Friday at the Guilderland High School or Farnsworth Middle School between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. No sign-up is required.

Voorheesville and Berne-Knox-Westerlo schools were closed on Thursday and had delayed starts on Friday.

Airport delays 

The National Weather Service recorded 22.9 inches of snow at the Albany International Airport and a majority of Albany’s flights were delayed or canceled. Toward the center of the county, observed totals reached 24 to 29 inches.

“The storm ranks among the top five of all December snow storms,” Doug Myers, the airport’s publicist, wrote in a release, and also ranks among the top 10 of all December snow storms to hit the airport. National Weather Service statistics go back to 1884.

The intensity of the storm required the airport to close its main runway for short periods to allow booms and snowblowers to make repeated passes on the 8,500-by-150-foot runway, Myers wrote.

In addition to the main runway, aircraft ramps, access roads, parking lots, and sidewalks were cleared of snow. While the airport covers just over 1,200 acres, crews plow the equivalent of over 120 miles of paved single-lane highway.

Guilderland response

“The storm set local records, with over 25 inches in town, and in intensity, with a record six inches in an hour,” wrote Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber in an email to residents.

The town’s fleet of 17 trucks began plowing town roads at 2 a.m. with almost 9 inches of snow already fallen. A stuck tractor trailer was blocking Route 146 so trucks had to detour to reach destinations.

“But, unfortunately, the crews ran across innumerable vehicles that were blocking streets, with each extraction taking 15 to 30 minutes,” Barber wrote. “By 5 a.m. the snow was falling at 6 inches an hour, a record for this area, which required the trucks to return for refitting with chains for better traction.”

During the night, crews were rerouted several times to assist with emergency calls, including plowing a county highway in front of a fire truck responding to a call, helping a stuck Altamont Rescue ambulance and plowing the way to a call. 

“The EMS Department, with Bonnie Jean Johnson in charge, responded to 14 emergency calls during the storm,” Barber reported. Highway crew helped plow and shovel the driveway, and police officers helped with CPR, holding intravenous bags, and assisting with extrication.

“After 12 hours of continuous work, with a few exceptions, every town road has been plowed,” Barber wrote. 

Barber thanked the town’s police, emergency medical services, volunteer fire departments, and dispatchers for serving the community during a record storm.

“It is often overlooked that these women and men have to reach work sites long before any plow has touched a road, and then work long hours under stressful circumstances,” Barber said.
 

States of emergency

Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency on Thursday in 18 counties, including Albany County.

“State of emergency allows local governments more flexibility, state government more flexibility, to move faster,” Cuomo told the press in making the announcement.

Cuomo also said, “We have thousands of pieces of equipment out; 2,000 snowplows, 478 loaders, 3,500 Department of Transportation and Thruway personnel out. That’s without county personnel, city personnel, town personnel, so there are a lot of people working very hard today to clear those roads.”

He urged New Yorkers who didn’t have to travel to stay home.

Cuomo also reported, “We have about 9,100 power outages that we’re working through right now. We had about 600 automobile accidents and we had about two fatalities. So, it is a serious condition and again stay home if you can.”

The speed limit on the Thruway and on other interstate corridors was reduced to 45 miles per hour, and empty and tandem tractor trailers were banned.

A release from the governor’s office said that the Capital Region received two mechanics and one mechanic service truck to help in critical areas.

State Police, the release said, responded to more than 600 accidents and disabled vehicles across the state, including two fatal accidents.

At 6:20 a.m., McCoy sent an email declaring a state of emergency in the county, effective at 6 a.m.

He, too, urged residents to stay off the roads and let highway crews do their work.

“Our DPW crews have been working throughout the night and the snow continues to come down rapidly,” McCoy said in a statement.

Albany Sheehan declared a state of emergency at the same time, and both city and county buildings were closed.

About an hour later, Barber announced that Guilderland town offices were closed and non-essential employees would not report to work.

McCoy said at his Thursday press conference that, in his nine years as county executive, “I’ve never heard my DPW commissioner say, ‘We can’t do this’” — until now. The problem was the visibility was so bad that equipment must move slowly.

“There’s only so much equipment can do,” agreed Sheehan.

She added, “Our most experienced plow drivers have said they haven’t seen anything like this.”

The city has the added problem, because of density, of having to remove the snow and has asked the state for help in trucking it away, she said.

Sheehan said she knew it was frustrating for residents but urged patience. “They’re working their hearts out,” she said of highway workers. “We’re moving as fast as we can with the resources we have.”