BUFFALO — Many credit unions here remain closed after a massive winter storm dumped several feet of snow on the city in a matter of days.
That's the word from Ron McLean, SVP of credit union relations and chief marketing officer at the Credit Union Association of New York.
"When the storm first hit, if you were in Buffalo and south, that was the most impacted area," McLean told Credit Union Journal. "If you were north of Buffalo, for a day or two it was really minimal impact and snow. It was a total contrast. The area of Buffalo south is where you're hearing about six, seven, eight feet of snow."
CUANY has identified about 30 CUs in the most-impacted region and continues to reach out to them. Many credit unions throughout the region remain closed due to a travel ban.
"For those in the most impacted areas... the inability to basically access and get on the roads and get to places is still a major, major issue for the communities," said McLean.
The good news is that CUANY has not yet received any word of damage to credit unions, but McLean cautioned that many CUs still could be affected.
"There are reports of roof collapses at either homes or businesses in the impacted area, so we would expect more news of that to come out in the next couple days," he said. For now, however, "there are no reports from the credit unions we've been in touch with about any of their facilities having roof collapses or things of that nature."
Just because the snow stops, however, does not mean CUs are out of the woods. Authorities are warning that Buffalo could face significant threats of flooding as the snow melts.
Many credit unions in the region are using their websites and social media to keep members informed during the storm. As of Friday afternoon some credit unions in the region were open for business, but many were not planning to open their doors until Saturday or Monday. Credit unions are also advising their members that they can use mobile banking or shared branching for many of their banking needs until all CUs re-open for business.
Relief Programs TBA
While CUANY has not yet heard of any Buffalo CUs offering relief programs for their members, but McLean was confident that those programs would begin to roll out once the recovery process begins.
"Based on prior experiences like Hurricane Sandy and different events in different parts of our state, I would expect credit unions to step forward quickly and help their members with any needs they can play a role in going forward," he said. "That will probably go to the forefront quickly once credit unions can reopen and have more interaction with their members."
Despite an historic storm, McLean was bullish that the city would be back on its feet quickly.
"Buffalo is used to the snow, but what's unusual is that they got a whole season's worth of snow in one storm," noted McLean. But, he added. "Buffalo people are hearty folks that are very resilient, and I think they are pulling through as New Yorkers and Buffalo people always do. So I think they're used to snow, and this is just unusual in the amount that came so quick and so fast and for so long."
Open For Business, But
At Buffalo Metropolitan CU—in the heart of the city, across from City Hall—the credit union was only minimally affected.
“But if you go one mile south,” said CEO Patricia Edinger, “over what we call the Skyway, which goes over the lake, you can’t move. There’s six, seven, eight feet of snow. I have board members and employees that live in the Southtowns and I haven’t seen them since Monday. I’ve been through the Blizzard of ’77, the Blizzard of 2000, and this is something like I’ve never seen before.”
Buffalo Metro was open sporadically throughout the week, but it was closed on Thursday after the mayor closed City Hall to prevent people from coming downtown.
“We posted payrolls from home” on Thursday, she said. “We were able to dial in and post payroll sin case anybody made it to an ATM or wanted to use shared branching, but that’s about as much as we could do.”
Edinger said she has not yet heard of damage to any credit unions in the area, but has heard plenty of stories about homes, including one employee whose neighbor’s home had the side eaves collapse from the snow. She said her credit union will almost certainly offer members some sort of relief program, but has not yet begun discussing what that might look like.
Buffalo Metro hasn’t heard much from members yet about needing loans for home repairs, but Edinger said she expected that most homeowners would be calling their insurance companies first.
“The problem now is that it’s going to be 60 degrees by Monday,” she said. “You do a flesh melt of that eight feet of snow, these poor people are going to be flooded out and the creeks are going to overflow. You’re going to see six inches of rainwater and snowmelt.”
A lifelong Buffalo resident, Erdinger has been overwhelmed by the storm.
“Three feet of snow, that’s nothing—you can snowblow that,” she said. “But when you’re talking five, six, seven feet of snow, that’s too much.”
