The Buffalo Blizzard of 2022
and why everyone needs to understand what Emergency Management can do for any type of disaster.
In the beginning of June 2023, I got a chance to read the very detailed After-Action Report/Improvement Plan (AAR/IP) produced by the NYU Wagner’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management on the deadly blizzard which hit Buffalo and other areas around Erie County in New York State, in late 2022. I believe the number of deaths from this storm is around 50 in total (since there is not a single multijurisdictional AAR/IP on this storm, the number varies, depending on who is doing the counting and where). You can read the report yourself at https://wagner.nyu.edu/impact/research/publications/lessons-learned-buffalo-blizzard-recommendations-for-strengthening
I had no personal connection with this Blizzard. I do recall hearing about it on the news and was shocked at the high number of people who died. I am a professional emergency manager (currrently consulting and volunteering with a major voluntary organization active in disaster). One of the things we do is critique ourselves and our work (including our missteps). A lot like surgeons go through M&M committees to both become better at what we do and of course help the public better, too. I started to draft commentary and areas of concern I knew — from open-source media and reading the NYU Rudin Report itself — which…
