BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A recently released report from New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service shares lessons that the City of Buffalo can learn from the deadly Christmas Blizzard.
One section of the report highlights how businesses navigated the storm and what can be improved for when another storm strikes.
"Interviews with business owners, employees, and non-profit staff revealed the need for more coherent messaging for the blizzard and what it meant to business operations," the report noted.
Alisa Younger, an operations supervisor for Standard Parking, was stuck at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport during the blizzard for 48 hours.
"It was very scary and at the last day your mind is like, 'Are we gonna get home,'" she said.
Despite efforts to help employees like Younger leave the airport, the whiteout conditions and hurricane-force winds made it impossible.
"At one point we were like resorting to the vending machine to see if we could get food or whatever," Younger explained.
The report offers recommendations for the City of Buffalo, Erie County, and Buffalo State University's Small Business Development Center (SBDC) on how businesses can be better prepared for if and when another storm strikes. Susan McCartney is the director of the center which works with a number of businesses in Erie and Wyoming Counties. She said a majority of businesses are in the City of Buffalo.
"I think there was not preparations. I think none of us maybe took it quite seriously enough," McCartney said.
The report said the SBDC should be equipped to assist small businesses with disaster preparation and recovery. It suggests that the center:
- Provide employers with clear guidance in disasters
- Develop clear definitions for emergency, essential, and non-essential personnel
- Create an information line for employers
"I think most of them are spot on. I think we're more prepared than they mentioned," McCartney said.
It is also noted that interviews with businesses showed many did not have emergency plans in place and that messaging needed to be more coherent since some businesses closed the day the blizzard hit while others remained open. Employees at a large hospital reported feeling that there was no plan for them and no preparations made for the storm, like canceling non-essential procedures.
"The way we communicate with one another is changing," Fillmore District Council Member Mitch Nowakowski said.
He said communication during the blizzard could've improved.
"We have to really evolve with these rapid ways people are digesting information," he said, "Words matter I think a lot of people are becoming desensitized to some words so that's coming up with new strategies and new ways for our constituents to ultimately keep them safe."
Meantime, McCartney said businesses need to start preparing now for the winter ahead. She emphasized the need to make digital copies of documents if a disaster ever destroys a business.
"I want our businesses to keep it front and center, get the documents ready, have a game plan," McCartney said.
