As far as preparing for the worst and hoping for the best the Buffalo area got the best of Hurricane Sandy, according to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
The storm may have knocked down some trees and power lines, but Poloncarz, speaking at the Erie County Emergency Services Center in Cheektowaga Tuesday morning, said it's minor compared to what has happened across the state. "We did dodge the bullet. We've got reports of trees down. But thankfully they haven't taken down major power lines. There were so minor power outages," said Poloncarz.
The county will be sending swift water rescue teams to help with the disaster on Long Island.
"We've heard there are hundreds o f people stuck on the roofs of their homes in Long Island," said Poloncarsz. "We have confirmed that we don't need here in Erie County. We don't need them in Western New York."
The rescue crews are made up of volunteer firefighters and County Emergency Services personnel. Swift water teams are self-contained units that will be traveling to Long Island with their own boat, food and power supply.
The City of Buffalo is reporting only minor damage this morning from the effects of Hurricane Sandy. Eight trees crashed to the ground in the city due to the heavy rains and strong winds.
WBFO's Eileen Buckley checked out one city street where a tree struck the front of two homes
On Fairfield Avenue between Main and Amherst Streets in North Buffalo, it was calm and the sun was peaking out from the clouds Tuesday morning.
But over night at the height of the storm, a large maple uprooted on the front lawn of a home. The tree, still with all its green leaves intact, is across the front lawn of home and into the driveway of the home next door.
Although it is unclear of structural damage to the home, the tree is in one piece and completely pulled up from the base at the start of the roots in the grass.
The city says it received seven utility calls for downed wires or blown transformers and four calls for minor street flooding, but no street closures were required.
Tuesday night a telephone pole also crashed to the ground in the city.
Buffalo residents that have any storm related non-emergency can contact the city's call center at 311.
In Orchard Park, WBFO listener Dawn Jones-Berti sent us this photo of a fallen tree along Woodland Dr.
![Dawn Jones-Berti [aurorawolf@verizon.net]-OrchardPark.JPG](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/06bbccf/2147483647/strip/true/crop/640x478+0+0/resize/880x657!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fwbfo%2Ffiles%2F201210%2FDawn%20Jones-Berti%20%5Baurorawolf%40verizon.net%5D-OrchardPark.JPG)