BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, along with the U.S. Coast Guard Station Buffalo, reflects on the Christmas blizzard that left some damages.
USS The Sullivans, along with the other ships, took a hit from the Christmas blizzard that Buffalo faced.
The President of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, Paul Marzello, tells 7 News reporter Yoselin Person that they’re assessing some of the damages. At the same time, they hired a naval surveyor to determine whether or not to keep the ships on the waterfront.
“His job is to assess the integrity of all three of the holes of all three ships and take a look at what it’ll be to move the ships from here onto a dry dock,” Marzello says. “Especially The Sullivans, which has the most urgency.”
Marzello says the life netting that goes around the ships was damaged.
“The Sullivans had minimal damage we have about 30 inches in sections B2 B3, it’s a manageable situation,” he says. “We will be pumping her out very shortly in fact, we might start today.”
A connecting stairway from The Sullivans to the Little Rock was blown into the Buffalo River, but crews were able to retrieve it this past week.
“The Crocker, she was bobbing up and down in the water in that storm like a toy boat in a bathtub,” the President of the Naval Park says. “Out of the three ships, she kept up the best, so it’s interesting to see how the ships managed throughout the storm.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard in Buffalo tells 7 News the blizzard was unprecedented on their end and has been the biggest one they’ve experienced since 1977.
“During the storm, they had to suspend physical operations in Buffalo,” says William Kelly of Public Affairs. “Then switch the watch coast guard at east to district 9 in Cleveland, which includes all of the rescue searchers.”
Kelly says several fallen trees on Fuhrmann Boulevard damaged fencing.
“Some of the damages were a few gutters that broke loose and fallen trees and damage to the fence line,” he says. “But we were really lucky because those were the only things we experienced.”
While many faced different damages during the blizzard, the President of the Naval Park says they’ll meet with their insurance investigator this coming Saturday to discuss the estimated damage cost.
