Rush To Restore Power In Buffalo

More than 200,000 homes and businesses in western New York remain without power this morning as recovery efforts stemming from last week's snowstorm continue.

New York State Electric and Gas says it has cut the number of outages in half — from 132,000 last Friday to 66,000 Monday morning.

The National Grid says it has restored electricity service to 100,000 customers, leaving another 160,000 without power, most of them in the Buffalo area. The company says some customers will have power by midnight, while others in southern Niagara County won't get power restored until Friday.

Some of the Erie County outages aren't expected to be restored until the weekend.

Buffalo's city school system remains closed, while three suburban districts — Williamsville, Sweet Home and Amherst — have decided to stay closed all week as cleanup from the big snow storm, which dumped up to two feet of snow on the area, continues.

Officials in the three districts say many schools are still without power and phone service after last week's record snowfall. They also worry about kids getting to their bus stops.

Thirty-one of Buffalo's 38 schools still don't have power or phone service. But the Buffalo city government is scheduled to open Monday.

Although the city water authority lifted its orders for residents of Erie County to boil their water before drinking it, county health officials say they are still testing the water for safety, CBS News affiliate WIVB reports.

Over the weekend, because temperatures were in the 40s, the snow was melting rapidly and the National Weather Service posted a flood watch for the area.

The snow cleanup effort is getting a boost from FEMA. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is making up to $5 million in clean-up funds immediately available for four western New York counties recovering from a freak fall snowstorm. The money is going to Erie, Niagara, Orleans and Genesee counties.

Meanwhile, hundreds traveled here from western New York to buy electrical generators and other supplies after a record snowfall buried the region last week.

The parking lot at a Home Depot store was full early Saturday as New York residents came in search of equipment, including gas cans and chain saws, when Buffalo, N.Y.-area retailers quickly ran out after the surprise storm Thursday and Friday.

"They lined up outside the building at 4," said Joe LaRusch, one of the store's managers.

LaRusch said he sold 73 generators on Saturday — as many as the store would sell in a typical year — and that another 225 had been ordered and were expected to arrive between Saturday night and Sunday.

Customers were waiting for about 160 of the generators, he said.

Most of the units, priced from about $450 to $1,250, were coming from Florida and other southern states, where a mild hurricane season left stores with excess supplies, according to LaRusch.

Many customers indicated they would buy as many generators as they could to take home to friends and neighbors, but LaRusch said he planned to limit them to two units each.

Some customers said they hoped to drive home with the generators Saturday night, even if they could not find other items they needed.

Generators also flew off the shelves at other area stores.

Tractor Supply Co. sold out of generators early Saturday. Lowe's sold its entire stock of 45 generators, prompting employees to make phone calls to find more and refer customers to stores in Pittsburgh and Cleveland.