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JILL SCHMELZER Amherst Reporter

+ WEATHERING THE STORM - This weekend has marked a historic event for all of Western New York. Yes, some were luckier than others. For example, the people who never lost power or didn't have many trees on their block. Those here in Amherst weren't so lucky. As I drove into work Monday morning, the devastation was unbelievable. Streets were unrecognizable and impassable. I took a detour from my normal route up South Cayuga Road and ventured over to Wehrle Drive, up Garrison Road to Main Street. I want to remind people that when traffic signals are out of service at an intersection it automatically becomes a four-way stop. I couldn't count the number of drivers that failed to follow this procedure. In one area, a tree lay across one side of the street. As a courtesy, people were letting one car go and then the other. It was my turn to let the vehicle on the other side pass, and sure enough, about 12 cars followed. Just my luck! I live down the road in Depew, and my neighborhood was hit pretty hard, too, so this has been an everyday occurrence since I finally left my house Saturday morning.

Before I was aware of the effects of the October storm, I woke up Friday morning and started to get ready for work. I thought I had a special meeting with the Village of Williamsville Board of Trustees. I somehow didn't hear the cracking and breaking of the trees from the horrific storm that devastated the surrounding areas. I went upstairs, and

much to my surprise, my sister, who normally leaves for work at 6:30 a.m., was sitting on the couch watching the news. We were snowed in. I looked outside, and my father was shoveling about two feet of snow. Trees and power lines were down everywhere. I put on my snow pants and went outside to help. A large, heavy tree branch missed landing on the windshield of my vehicle by about two inches. We only had one shovel, so I took a broom and was pushing the snow off the hood of my car as more tree branches fell around us. Luckily, we didn't have any serious damage, but my neighbor's yard looked like a war zone. There were several large trees on their property, but not one was left standing as tall as it once was. Their lawn was left covered in brush; branches piled one on top of the other stretched the length of the street, sidewalk and up to their home. A power line stands between my family's house and theirs. Thank goodness the trees fell to the right rather than the left.

Who knows what extent the damage would have been had they fallen onto our property or over the lines.

We luckily had power until late Friday evening, but then we also succumbed to the storm and lost electricity like the rest of our neighborhood. We are still without power as of noon Tuesday.

So for the past four days, just like many other people, my family and I have been living in the dark. It is hard to maneuver around the house using just a flashlight or lantern. The worst part of the experience is no heat. During the day, the house is bearable - it is the evening that it is so cold I have to cover myself with five heavy blankets to keep warm.

One good thing about the blustery weather was the community support. My neighbors, like those in many other Western New York communities, came outside and lent each other a helping hand, supplying hookups to generators and clearing debris that the storm left behind.