Funviralpark Jessica Sypniewski was one of about 30 people stranded at Target stores during the Buffalo blizzard over the holiday weekend.
Cheektowaga, New York – About 30 people were forced to spend part of the Christmas weekend at Target stores. While waiting for the blizzard that devastated the Buffalo area to subside.
Jessica Shipnewski, who lives in West Seneca, a suburb of Buffalo, New York, said she drove across town to bring her family home on Friday. However, the journey home soon became dangerous.
“On our way home, a blizzard came and it got faster and harder,” she said.
Sypniewski said the dizzying snow made it impossible to navigate safely.
“I can’t see two inches ahead,” she said. “I have lived here for her 33 years and have never experienced anything like this in my life.”
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Erie County Transit Road looking north from the Sheridan Drive Overpass in Buffalo on December 25, 2022 at 9:30 am.
(NYSDOT Western NY / FOX Weather)
Sypniewski said he used a map app on his phone to find a nearby Target Plaza in Cheektowaga, another suburb of Buffalo. She said the group of six first stopped at the shopping center’s grocery store, but the employees wouldn’t let them inside.
“I was so relieved when we first got there,” she said. “I started crying. It was seriously a life-or-death situation.”
(Jessica Lee/Facebook/TMX/FOX Weather)
Sypniewski said seven Target employees and six others had already taken refuge in the store when her family arrived. She said about 30 people had taken refuge in large stores by Christmas Eve.
She shared images of her in-store vacation on social media, showing people resting on inflatable mattresses in the camping section and laying their heads on pillows in the home goods section. In one photo, a group of people are seen waiting for hot drinks at an indoor Starbucks as a winter storm rages outside.
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Sypniewski said the kids were fine on Friday night, but Christmas Eve was a different story.
“My son was very upset when he found out that Christmas was the next day,” she said.
Sypniewski said he assured his son that Santa Claus would deliver even if he wasn’t home.
Sypniewski said she and her family were safely home by Saturday afternoon, but some people were forced to take refuge in stores until Christmas Day afternoon.
“I can’t say enough about the Target employees who opened up to us and gave us everything we needed,” she wrote in a Facebook post. is literally a lifesaver.”
Buffalo Airport reported 51.5 inches in the recent storm alone. So far, more than 92 inches of snow have covered Buffalo this winter season alone, according to the National Weather Service. That’s about what the city sees on average.
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