The Lake Storm nicknamed ‘Aphid’ that struck Buffalo New York and the surrounding areas of Upstate New York, and Canada came totally by surprise. Back in October 12th, 2006 Lake Storm Aphid caused tremendous damage to the town of Buffalo and surrounding areas. It was a dramatic out of season storm that caused an unexpected amount of chaos.
The amount of damage caused was extremely unique, especially with lake temperatures being no lower than 62 degrees in regards to the destruction it caused to trees and power lines specifically, which caused massive power outages for long periods of time. When the Lake Storm Aphid hit it was completely out of season, which is part of the reason for the power outages. Nearly a million Niagara residents lost the power in their homes for about 10 days. There were also many historic parks and parkways in Buffalo, that suffered from severe tree damages.
Impact
The town of Buffalo was extremely shaken by the storm. Lake Storm Aphid lasted for about three days straight. The storm affected several areas in the upstate New York region. The other areas affected were Erie County, Genesee County, Orleans County, Niagara County, and a good majority of the Niagara region.
The first reports of ice came in the form of ice pellets and hail. The temperatures dropped at least twice per hour. Going from 41 degrees when the storm first started, which was at 12:14pm, then 37 degrees by 1:00pm, and 36 degrees by 1:38pm. The first rain, snow mixture was said to fall by 1:51pm. By 2:09pm the rain changed over to snow entirely, bringing the temperature down to 33.8 degrees by 2:13pm that’s same day. The first drops of snow did not accumulate on the ground till about 4as:54pm. The first accumulated inches of snow were on places above ground, such as trees and power lines which explains the damage done there. There was as much as 24 inches of snow once Lake Storm Aphid was over
Recovery
The turnaround from Lake Storm Aphid was not an easy one. County officials estimated that it would take about $100 million for the areas that were destroyed to get back on track. The county also stated that FEMA and state policies and rules would reimburse the county for the damages.
The New York State Emergency Management Office also known as SEMO estimated about $95 million for repairs, but estimated the numbers would change and would most likely grow. Days later the county revised their estimate to about $150 million. The county expense and giambra later quoted that it would take $250 million to repair all of the damages Lake Storm Aphid caused. These were all projections, since the amount could not be set in total until the amount of debris was fully measured.
