Update: February 25, 6 p.m.
Town of Hamburg Emergency Services Manager Sean Crotty said that the voluntary evacuation ended at 4 p.m. on Monday.
Original: February 25, 2 p.m.
A voluntary evacuation was put in place on Sunday for Hoover Beach, according to the Town of Hamburg Emergency Services.
The Woodlawn Fire Department went door to door accounting for residents.
Officials are asking the general public to stay out of Hoover Beach until further notice.
“When we were told it was going to be an 80 mile an hour wind gusting we kind of had our guard up and this was the result,” said David Schultz, Hoover Beach.
David Schultz, a long time resident of Hoover Beach says he’s amazed this massive pile of ice was just shy of hitting his home.
“Starting building up starting coming up on our patios over here and it just stopped short of hitting our homes,” said Schultz.
Town of Hamburg Emergency Manager Sean Crotty says this big ice pile formed and came out of nowhere in just a matter of 12 minutes yesterday, caused by a seiche which happened as a result of a sudden rise of lake levels.
“It came quick it was all the ice that was surface ice out on the lake, when the winds started blowing it started to crack and then the upheaval from underneath the lake level rising that started to pile it all up and it moved very very rapidly,” said Sean Crotty, Town of Hamburg Emergency Manager.
Crotty says conditions can change quickly, and wants to make sure the people of Hoover Beach are aware that there is still a threat as long as winds are elevated.
“It could cause the structures to ultimately collapse so when the ice hits the structures, we don’t want obviously the occupants in the structures. So we want to make sure people are aware that they may have to exit very very rapidly,” said Crotty.
“Never been this way in my history of being here 50 years and my father is 86 years old and he’s never seen anything like this either,” said Schultz.
The voluntary evacuation at Hoover Beach won’t be lifted until the winds die down.
