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Crews work to deal with changing weather

With a forecast of rain changing to sleet and snow just in time for the evening commute, more than a dozen town workers in Cheektowaga spent a chunk of Friday filling sandbags.
(Photo: WGRZ)

CHEEKTOWAGA, NY-- It was sand before salt at the Cheektowaga Highway Department.

With a forecast of rain changing to sleet and snow just in time for the evening commute, more than a dozen workers at the department spent a chunk of Friday filling sandbags.

A swollen Cayuga Creek near Bennett Road had gotten the attention of Highway Superintendent Mark Wegner.

“We’ve been directing most of our attention over by Belleview Fire Hall district. That’s where we’ve been having the problems. So, if the creek does crest over, we will be ready with the sandbags.”

The headache on the horizon was the plunging temperature coupled with a forecast of snow, maybe heavy snow.

Two days of above average temperatures left roads wet from melted snow. Then, steady, sometimes heavy rains, fell throughout Friday. With freezing temperatures moving in, the prospect of slippery, maybe icy roads had police agencies concerned.

“It can go from wet to slippery very quickly,” said New York State Trooper James O’Callaghan, "You could go somewhere and only be there 15-20 minutes and then travel back on that same road depending on how fast that temperature dipped it could be icy.”

The potentially worst part is the timing of the anticipated icy conditions, just at the Friday afternoon commute. O’Callaghan and Wegner both ask the driving public to reconsider hitting the roads given the conditions they may face.

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