stories of hope and resilience

December 26, 2022 6:02 PM

Even in the worst situations there are people who shine like beacons. Amid a deadly winter storm, heart-warming tales spring forth of neighbors assisting stranded tourists and helping deliver babies.

Day 4 of the horrific bomb cyclone event in Buffalo, NY has been brutal.

In the midst of the chaos, people have stepped up and taken care of their neighbors and neighborhoods.

This story got me good: TRUE ANGEL IN BUFFALO

posted by RobinofFrocksley (10 comments total)

I just read the story about the tourists from Korea and it literally brought tears to my eyes! Most of the time, when it really matters, people are awesome.
posted by EllaEm at 9:02 PM on December 26, 2022 [3 favorites]

Proud to be a Buffalonian...
posted by Czjewel at 9:24 PM on December 26, 2022 [7 favorites]

There are kind people in the world.
posted by DJZouke at 4:51 AM on December 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

Thank you for sharing these stories. Not to be a downer but I’m struggling with how horrifying this is. Fourteen people died outside during a blizzard. Three people died because emergency services could not get to them. Four people froze to death. And those numbers could go up as more people are found (source).

I’m sure there will be hard conversations to follow about how this could happen, and it was a very powerful storm. But people knew it was coming and this place was more prepared for it than most others would have been. I’m not blaming anyone. I’m just in disbelief that it was this bad. My heart aches for this community.
posted by kat518 at 7:06 AM on December 27, 2022 [7 favorites]

I just read the story about the tourists from Korea and it literally brought tears to my eyes! Most of the time, when it really matters, people are awesome.

I’d also add that the family liked Korean food, and had ingredients on hand to make said food… and then they ended up taking in stranded Korean tourists who knew what to do with those ingredients. I would call that the best kind of karma imaginable. (And I’m guessing when that couple makes that trip to go see South Korea, they’re going to have places to stay.)
posted by azpenguin at 7:49 AM on December 27, 2022 [9 favorites]

Thank you for putting this together, RobinofFrocksley. For as absolutely horrifying as this storm's impact continues to be (in ways, I suspect, that we will be feeling for a long, long time) - the generosity and love of this city, our willingness to take care of one another despite the the worst odds, is the thing I hope the rest of the world remembers about this storm.

For anyone outside the area - I saw a (screenshot of a) Tweet that said something to the effect of - it's impossible to explain what this storm was like*. Hurricane-force winds, four feet of snow plus bigger drifts, and wind chills below zero. What that tweet didn't mention was the three days without emergency services (fire trucks and ambulances couldn't get through the storm) and knowing that your friends and loved ones across the city were (and in some cases continue to be) without power, without food, without heat. And we're not out of the woods yet - warmer temps and rain this weekend can easily lead to flooding when combined with snow melt. It will be days, if not weeks, before all the side streets are plowed and are safely drivable again.

But for every story in this post, I've seen so many more - businesses opening up their doors (in one instance, giving out the door code), restaurants giving away food. Our local children's bookstore is open a few hours today not to sell but to be a community space for anyone who needs it. Someone scaled the eight-foot snow drift in front of our house to make sure we weren't snowed in at the door. There are Facebook groups and Google Docs and Instagram hashtags for mutual aid, getting food and supplies to those who need them - often organized by existing mutual aid networks**. We really are the city of good neighbors.

*If you read The Long Winter as a kid, it's a lot like that.

**The fact that we have such a strong foundation of mutual aid speaks to the structural inequities in this city...but that's an entirely different post.
posted by okayokayigive at 8:29 AM on December 27, 2022 [25 favorites]

I don’t think they’ve ever had to suspend emergency services in Buffalo before. The wind created enormous drifts - supposedly a power substation in need of repair is inaccessible because of an 18 foot drift. With sustained high winds, crews couldn’t fix power lines. This is part of a major highway in Buffalo. A lot of the area is slowly reopening but it’s going to take time to deal with that.
posted by kat518 at 10:18 AM on December 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

Buffalonian here with a story of how people step up to help.

Nobody (family or friends) had heard from my daughter's closest friend since before the storm began. We knew the power was out where she lives, but none of us are physically close enough to check. During wildly high wind conditions on Saturday, after a post in the buffalo subreddit, a complete stranger went to try to check on her with no success. Sunday afternoon we contacted a neighbor we know only slightly who walked there and was able to get a response so we were able to offer a place for her to wait things out in our house with power and heat. These are the stories we're often not hearing.
posted by Scout405 at 10:19 AM on December 27, 2022 [7 favorites]

Can ya'all please stop chopping onions around here? I need to get some work done.
posted by hydra77 at 11:14 AM on December 27, 2022 [7 favorites]

This story got me good: TRUE ANGEL IN BUFFALO

Ah, geez.
posted by praemunire at 1:10 PM on December 27, 2022 [3 favorites]