×

Crashes, school closings amid snow, wind

A Hyde Fuel truck drives down Broadway in the snow and wind Monday morning in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Howling winds and blowing snow made driving dangerous Monday morning and prompted Tri-Lakes area schools to cancel classes.

Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake and Lake Placid schools are closed today. That goes for the public school districts as well as private schools that follow the districts’ lead on scheduling, such as St. Bernard’s and St. Agnes Catholic schools and Northern Lights Waldorf school.

North Country Community College cancelled classes Monday as well. Paul Smith’s College is still open.

The Saranac Lake Adult Center is closed today.

The public school districts in Long Lake and Saranac are on two-hour delays this morning. The Clifton-Fine school district also canceled classes today.

The AuSable Valley and Keene school districts are operating normally today.

The Tupper Lake Fire Department reported that Demars Boulevard, from Santa Clara Avenue to Pleasant Avenue, was closed Monday morning because of whiteout conditions. The Moody Flow also had whiteout conditions Monday morning with several crashes reported, but which couldn’t be confirmed as of deadline. Another report said a car went off the road in the Piercefield area. When checking in with Tupper Lake police Chief Eric Proulx, he could not comment because he was on the scene of a crash.

The Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department responded to a one-car, weather-related crash on Wilmington Road near the cherry patch at 6 a.m. Monday. No one was injured.

The National Weather Service has posted three weather alerts:

-A Winter Weather Advisory until 11 p.m. Monday, with the NWS predicting a total of 4 to 8 inches of snow and wind chills as low as 25 degrees below zero. Expect slippery road conditions and wind chills that can cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes.

-A Wind Advisory until 7 p.m. today, with the strongest winds expected until 4 p.m. — 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 55 mph. “Strong winds may blow down limbs, trees, and power lines,” the advisory says. “Isolated to scattered power outages are expected.”

-A Wind Chill Advisory from midnight tonight until 10 a.m. Tuesday, with wind making the temperature feel as low as 25 degrees below zero in the Tri-Lakes area.

The Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department responded to a tree on a powerline on Mckenzie Pond Road at 12:51 p.m. on Sunday. The crew stood by for National Grid.

High winds on Sunday caused power outages throughout the village of Saranac Lake, resulting in customers using their cell phones as flash lights inside Aldi and helpful employees ushering them quickly to the registers while they were still charged.

Around 1 p.m. Sunday, the stoplights at the intersection of Main Street and River Street stopped functioning.

“Treat dark traffic signals as all-way stops. In the event a traffic signal is malfunctioning or completely out of service due to a power outage,” state Department of Transportation Regional Public Information Officer Bryan Viggiani wrote in a travel advisory Sunday. “Motorists should come to a complete stop and then take turns proceeding through the intersection.

An 86 mph gust was recorded Sunday on Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks. There were gusts of 74 mph at the Niagara Falls airport and 69 mph at the Buffalo airport.

Additionally, two individuals were stuck in elevators in the village due to power failures, and needed to be extricated by the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department.

Throughout the rest of the state, more than 65,000 power outages had been reported in upstate New York after high winds continued to rattle the region overnight.

Syracuse.com says 5,000 utility workers have been mobilized upstate.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.75/week.

Subscribe Today