20 years since October storm, Buffalo still growing after "arborgeddon"

Twenty years ago tonight, an historic lake-effect storm hit unexpectedly, dumping up to two feet of heavy, wet snow onto trees that were still in full bloom.

The sheer weight of the snow decimated Buffalo's tree canopy, taking down thousands of power lines and fracturing the electrical grid.

WBEN's Tom Puckett is taking a look back.

Don Purdy says the skies turned a purplish color, something he had never seen before the afternoon of October 12th, 2006.

A few hours later-

At about eleven o'clock, uh, outside, uh, there w- there were the sounds of what sounded like gunshots, but they turned out to be cree- trees cracking a- and, uh, in fact, at three o'clock, one landed on our roof and shook the house, uh, very hard.

It was, it, it was quite scary.

But it wasn't until the sun came up and, and you could see the Armageddon-like scene.

Purdy, the author of Thundersnow of Buffalo, was working for the Bills at the time, and the team was scrambling to get players ready for a matchup on the road.

There was no dress code as it normally was.

Just get yourself there.

If you're [chuckles] in the clothes that you wore to bed, we'll figure that out.

Uh, Coach Duron, uh, Dick Duron at the time just said, "Uh, everyone, every trainer, every front office person, uh, if you know a player, they can't get there, uh, find someone that could get them to a place where someone can pick them up."

Purdy says a slight temperature change could have made this just a rainy fall night.

Find out how much of a difference online.

Tom Puckett, wben.com news.

All right.

Lot of memories for a lot of people, and most of them are not good memories, unless you're a kid who enjoyed being off school for at least a week in many cases around here.

Uh, that's my kids' memory of it.

They were six and seven at the time, and just what a crippling storm.

What a memorable, uh, lake-effect snowstorm for Western New York.

We talked about it with Aaron Mankowski this morning, and the full interview with Don Purdy and Tom Puckett, that's also online for you as well on the Odyssey app and at wben.com. Two lawsuits filed by the city of Buffalo last week to stop construction of the proposed Seneca gas station along Ohio Street.

Twenty years ago tonight, an historic lake-effect storm hit unexpectedly, dumping up to two feet of heavy, wet snow onto trees that were still in full bloom.

The sheer weight of the snow decimated Buffalo's tree canopy, taking down thousands of power lines and fracturing the electrical grid.

WBEN's Tom Puckett is taking a look back.

Don Purdy says the skies turned a purplish color, something he had never seen before the afternoon of October 12th, 2006.

A few hours later-

At about eleven o'clock, uh, outside, uh, there w- there were the sounds of what sounded like gunshots, but they turned out to be cree- trees cracking a- and, uh, in fact, at three o'clock, one landed on our roof and shook the house, uh, very hard.

It was, it, it was quite scary.

But it wasn't until the sun came up and, and you could see the Armageddon-like scene.

Purdy, the author of Thundersnow of Buffalo, was working for the Bills at the time, and the team was scrambling to get players ready for a matchup on the road.

There was no dress code as it normally was.

Just get yourself there.

If you're [chuckles] in the clothes that you wore to bed, we'll figure that out.

Uh, Coach Duron, uh, Dick Duron at the time just said, "Uh, everyone, every trainer, every front office person, uh, if you know a player, they can't get there, uh, find someone that could get them to a place where someone can pick them up."

Purdy says a slight temperature change could have made this just a rainy fall night.

Find out how much of a difference online.

Tom Puckett, wben.com news.

All right.

Lot of memories for a lot of people, and most of them are not good memories, unless you're a kid who enjoyed being off school for at least a week in many cases around here.

Uh, that's my kids' memory of it.

They were six and seven at the time, and just what a crippling storm.

What a memorable, uh, lake-effect snowstorm for Western New York.

We talked about it with Aaron Mankowski this morning, and the full interview with Don Purdy and Tom Puckett, that's also online for you as well on the Odyssey app and at wben.com. Two lawsuits filed by the city of Buffalo last week to stop construction of the proposed Seneca gas station along Ohio Street.