Buffalo Snowfall: When Did We Lose Ability to Take Care of Ourselves?

Every extreme situation highlights existing problems and weak places. And though I feel for the people suffering from this enormous snowfall, I can’t but notice that we have some real problems.
I was surprised to know that some people died of cardiac issues while cleaning their cars from snow. This is terrible, but… what was the state of their health if such kind of physical activity causes such consequences? I mean, that is signal of real problems with national health…
Then, there are people trapped in their houses. They can’t get out because the snow is door high. I understand they may not have shovels, but… I remember my grandma telling me about such snowfalls. They were regular for the area she lived in, and grandpa just got out through the window in the attic and cleared the way. I keep asking myself why people have problems with that now… I mean, three adult persons are sitting at home hoping to be saved. Why aren’t they doing anything themselves?
Or the story of the guy who died in his car… He got stuck in it because it was covered with more than a foot of snow. How much does it take for the snow to form such height? What was he waiting for?
Or, I know, he waited for help because the authorities are asking people who are stuck in vehicles to remain in their vehicles until they are rescued. But… if the help isn’t coming for two hours and more? Would you wait any longer? I wouldn’t, I would walk to the nearest place with people to wait there, and hell with the car. Life is more precious.
Once again, I feel for the people who died during the snowstorm, but I seems like we have turned into a bunch of children waiting for someone to come and save us, not ready to take some action and responsibility for our own lives. We have become either stupid or helpless…
What would you do if the snow covered the door and blocked the entrance?

 

when's the last time you shoveled 6 feet of snow?

not everyone is a 38 year old frequent jogger/swimmer/frequent exerciser, like you and I.

 

I lived in Buffalo until I was eight. Three feet of snow at a time wasn't unusual; six feet is something else altogether.

This is heavy, wet snow. And when six feet of it falls, one big issue is: where do you put the snow you're shoveling? It's already stacked six feet deep all around you.

I remember digging trenches from our door to the driveway. But again, that was with snow that was three feet deep. I'm not sure where you would start with six feet of it.

 

I actually did shovel six feet of snow one year - the year of a 40" snowstorm - and it was friggin driveway with 6 ft drifts. Two days we shoveled that drive (it was also very windy). That's the year I broke down and bought a snow blower.

 

Being raised in the Dakota's I've experienced some rather large blizzards with heavy, deep drifting. It wasn't uncommon to be stuck indoors for a day or two either. I was pretty young then, but remember my brother and I having to crawl out a window afterwards and shovel a path to the front door. Heck, sometimes it took days to able to drive anywhere because you had to wait for a plow to show up, but people prepared for that sort of thing because it happened almost every winter. But there were people who died, usually because they got stuck on highway in the middle of nowhere. But back then, it was just part of life and we dealt with it. Now days, who knows.

 

I remember snowdrifts halfway up to the top of the windows of the house I lived in as a kid. The drifts were the result of appx 3 - 4 feet of snow. Pretty much a once or twice a year occurrence in the 60's. Our back door was about 6 feet from the ground so we just exited through that and shoveled and salted the walks when it stopped snowing. Clearing the driveway after the snowplows came through was the biggest hassle

On the guy who sat in his car, unless he was homeless and living in it it had to be the Darwin effect did him in

 

Buffalo experienced six feet of SNOWFALL, not drifts of up to six feet.

I've dealt with big drifts before... but I usually had some place to put the snow that wasn't already under six feet of snow.

 

Oh ya, the snow expert from ...GEORGIA...

The car is buried under a foot of snow but you'd just WALK to the "nearest" place with people in the clear skies and 10 mile visibility...???? Piece of cake!


The snow is over the door and you think you just grab your shovel and walk out the door and shovel the snow aside....and THEN where do you think you're going to go???



You took a few instances and turned them into "we"......WE are not children because WE have to wait for giant plows to clear roads so WE have a place to GO..

 

The routine 'quiet' deaths won't make the newspapers. Winter weather kills about 7000 a year in highway accidents, people will have heart attacks shoveling snow, the elderly and poor will have to choose between heat and food. The cold kills a lot more than the heat does hence my attitude on global warming.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2014/07/30/weather-death-statistics-cold-heat/13323173/

 

Well, I have never shoveled snow, but I still think that we could probably do a lot for ourselves under such circumstances.

 

6 ft. of snow is nothing, you just need to keep up on it. Your not shoveling your whole yard, usually just the path to the front door and maybe your driveway. Everything in the city is going to shut down except plows anyways so simply go outside every 2 hrs. or so and push the stuff into the street so the plows can get it.

Yes its a pain and I know that our liberal society embraces its laziness but those who actually get up off the couch to deal with it will find its not that big of a problem if handled correctly.

By the way, wet snow is much easier to shovel at low levels, about 1 or 2 inches, then powder is. It shovels in nice little clumps or pushes very easily without spreading around. Its the ice that forms overnight which makes wet snow a pain.

 

Yes and "we" do. Hence 100's, 1,000's don't die.

You haven't shoveled snow .....so you haven't had the power (heat) go out in a blizzard and survived....many have....

You haven't been snowbound for days because the roads were snow and ice covered and lethal.....but many "we"s survived....

 

Correct! Doncha just love those who have never been in a snowstorm , how they think it's just so simple...

Another thing they don't think of is how the cold does a number on humans, even very fit humans.

It takes more out of you, burns more calories, than shoveling snow in 70 degree Georgia weather

Cold can also cause dangerous frostbite and if the roads aren't clear you don't get treatment....and you could lose fingers and toes showing how strong and independent you are ....




I wish someone would tell me why this is a political opinion?????

 

Oh I have been snowbound.. and I have been out in blizzards.. I just haven't shoveled snow.

 

Wet snow in amounts that are MORE than 1 to 2 inches is way worse than powder -- it's orders of magnitude heavier.

And in a major snowstorm, our street is one with low priority. We sometimes don't see snow plows until the day after a major storm. Now this is Minnesota, so we don't get the massive lake-effect dumps that western New York gets -- but when I was growing up in Buffalo (Williamsville, actually), we could go a day or so without seeing a plow.

 

Are you one of the helpless "children" the OP is talking about? Or just so wealthy everyone does the work for you?

IF you have been snowbound and out in blizzards your last post was odd?????

 

Buffalo got nearly a year's worth of snow in three days. People who say they should have been prepared to hit their average annual snowfall in one snow storm are completely unrealistic. And people claiming this kind of thing happened to them every winter are full of it.

 

that's easy to say, living in Florida.

 

No.. I am not helpless.. I just tend to be prepared.. and I have never shoveled snow.

 

The insanity of the OP is remarkable.........I mean having no real experience with this kind of weather the OP simply states things that are dumb on their face.
Why do people seem to think they need to attack others all the time?

 

You have no earthly idea what you are talking about.

.

Where are you putting that snow?

except in Buffalo many plows didn't get through and many roads are not plowed normally.

More bull(*)(*)(*)(*) right wing nonsense.

More nonsense.........

Tell you what all of you complaining if your house catches fire please don't call the fire department since you think calling on services makes you lazy.

 

And thinking that every year i pray for some snow to come down to play with lol but only rain comes down. Ok that was tragic, people die because of these things but the economical damage is often much more vast. So you tell me we lost the ability to take care of ourselves? I know people who would blow up their houses if only left alone for a moment so that's not what i call a tragic downfall in people's ability to take care of themselves.

 

Thread is kinda like saying "why do people die in heatwaves? why don't they just turn on the air conditioner?"

Sorry, OP, not one to make appeals to insensitivity often, but maybe rethink your position.

Now, OTOH, how many of the people having heart attacks or whatnot were going to have them at that exact moment regardless of weather? I think some of the weather attribution of deaths is done to sensationalize by the media.

 

First, what makes you think I have no such experience?
Second, what makes you think I'm attacking anyone? I'm just discussing some ideas I've come up to regarding a particular situation.
Do you need to feel you know everything and can judge people?

And what's wrong with my position? What's wrong in asking questions and making conclusions? They might be wrong, but what's bad about this?
Or, maybe, it's not just ethincal to dicsuss people in trouble? But how can we find out the reasons that caused this troubles to avoid them in the future?
You didn't like the way I put? Well, sorry, but I'm not 100 bucks to be adored by everyone.