Officials reported that a city worker in Buffalo, New York, died on Wednesday while helping to clear a record amount of snow.
Before the tragedy, city workers had been working nonstop this week after the Buffalo region was struck by a storm that dumped more than 6 feet of snow in some places.
According to Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia, the worker was fatally struck by a high loader truck dropping a load of snow into a dump truck in reverse at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday in the area of McKinley Parkway in South Buffalo.
According to Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, the victim was a “highly seasoned part of our city team, a very experienced member of our city family, with decades on the job, field experience in situations like this.” The employee’s identity was withheld until notification of the family.
He claimed that the incident has left the community “heartbroken” and that the Buffalo Police Department’s accident investigation team is looking into the details.
The motorist who struck the victim “is in shock,” the mayor continued and is cooperating with the inquiry.
According to Brown, the truck that was involved in the collision belonged to a third-party contractor that the city had hired to assist with snow removal. Police officers will also check out the affected vehicles.
Brown stated that on Wednesday, 180 pieces of heavy equipment were labouring to remove snow from South Buffalo and that municipal employees were putting in long hours, often without any rest, to clean the roadways.
Starting on Wednesday night, he declared that snow removal operations will be suspended for 48 hours.
“We are aware that the staff is currently experiencing a great deal of sadness. We will halt further removal operations for 48 hours at 5 p.m. this evening because we are aware that many people have been working 16- and 18-hour shifts while getting very little sleep, Brown said.
