Governor Hochul: "I am so proud of Western New Yorkers for heeding our call to stay off the roads last night, it was treacherous. And as a result, we were able to salt, we were able to clear the roads better than we would've if they had been filled with traffic, and we really avoided a large number of accidents."

Hochul: "I have an enormous emergency management team in operation centers and ready to deploy anywhere we need help and to keep the power on as well. We've had some power outages, but nothing we can't handle right now."

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on WBEN.

AUDIO of the interview is available here.  

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Brian Mazurowski: Governor, thanks for being with us this morning. We'll get right to it - the response so far, what have you made of the response to what's fallen?  

Governor Hochul: Well, first of all, I am so proud of Western New Yorkers for heeding our call to stay off the roads last night, it was treacherous. And as a result, we were able to salt, we were able to clear the roads better than we would've if they had been filled with traffic, and we really avoided a large number of accidents. They were minor in comparison to what would've been if the roads had been opened. So, I just want to thank Western New Yorkers for staying home yesterday. And as we see the band shifting today, they seem to be more concentrated in the south towns, but they are looking to move north again, and we're still keeping our crews on the ground out there on the roads.

I have an enormous emergency management team in operation centers and ready to deploy anywhere we need help and to keep the power on as well. We've had some power outages, but nothing we can't handle right now. It's not the scale it would've been, so we're in a good place right now, but really watching the forecast as the storm clouds continue to be positioning themselves to come back over the City of Buffalo. But the south towns were hit hard.  

Susan Rose: It is daytime now, Governor, and you know, we've got travel bans, and some travel advisories now. Are you worried about maybe people getting out too much today?  

Governor Hochul: Well, we hope that they'll heed these, and we're in constant communication with the City of Buffalo and the County of Erie. The County of Erie made some adjustments acknowledging that the north towns were not hit hard, so there's no reason to restrain people, you know, it's an advisory, but it's not a ban. And that's the commonsense approach to this, not giving a complete ban for the whole county. So, if people are under a ban, they need to know that's because there's either a current, dangerous situation or one that is impending.

It's tough to say there's a ban, then take it off, then put it back on again because if we see the weather event through the weekend as being, you know, fairly substantial amount of snow, we just want to make sure that people are safe.

Brian Mazurowski: You know, on that, the decision to, let's say close the 90, you know, there's a lot of big decisions like that, issuing a travel ban. I'm wondering what goes through your mind and how you look at making those decisions and where you personally draw the line between being prepared and potentially going overboard?

Governor Hochul: No, that's an excellent question. That's something I wrestle with as someone from Western New York who knows we can handle quite a bit. But I also look at the national weather experts and what their predictions are because what you don't want to do is say the sky is clear right now, have traffic out there, and then know that within an hour, you know, the volume is going to increase dramatically, and people could literally be trapped in their cars. That's the lesson from the past storms. This is a far better situation when you see something - not a normal winter storm, you know, this was not just a Buffalo snowy day. We saw the signs and they're still showing up that between Thursday night and Sunday, this is a major, major storm impact on Western New York. 

So, I have to take it seriously, but also knowing that people are going to say, you know, why so long? Why do we have to do this? And so, I'm adapting my expectations to that as well and talking to my team. Our tolerance level is pretty high in Western New York. I know that, but I also have to make sure that we make the right decisions that we don't regret later, such as saying everybody can go back on the roads, and then the storm hits, and people are stranded and there could be a loss of life, and that is what we're preventing here.

Brian Mazurowski: Is a lot of it relying on people to use their common sense, though? You know, I'll use myself as an example, live up in the Tonawandas, and looking at it now, we have about an inch, nothing falling and nothing, you know, really forecast. And you're pretty confident you can move from my house to the grocery store or something like that in the Tonawandas. But I also know I'm not about to go on the highway and go near the City of Buffalo or in the south towns. It's just kind of common sense for people to pay a little bit of attention to the forecast, now where you're able to travel.

Governor Hochul: Exactly. Exactly. And people from Buffalo are seasoned, you know, we know what the roads can do, but the challenge is you may think that it's okay to go on a road heading south, but then you might be the person that gets into an accident and delays the snow removal. You know, that's something that's really important. We were able to get the plows out last night in a meaningful way. That made a difference because we had the bans in place overnight when there'd be less of an impact. And again, the north towns, they have an advisory. This is not a ban right now. And that's another commonsense approach that says we're not going to have this one-size-fits-all county approach when people in some areas are not as impacted. 

I grew up in Hamburg. I can't tell you how many times that Hamburg was slammed with snow. You cross over Route 20, and you see almost nothing heading into Buffalo. But we are forecasting more snow coming back to Buffalo. It's not just the south towns right now. And that's the wildly unpredictable nature of this storm, as long as it's still, these bans are in the region, and we can see more coming.

You know, we still have to treat this seriously because we all have those images in our head of people stranded on the thruway for days and days, and that is not tolerable. And we have the warning, and that's why we're taking these preemptive strikes right now to protect Western New Yorkers. 

Susan Rose: We're talking live with Governor Kathy Hochul on WBEN Buffalo. Governor, we're getting ready now for a Bills game, not at Highmark Stadium, but in Detroit on Sunday. How involved were you in that decision to move the game? 

Governor Hochul: Well, this was an NFL decision. They have their own protocols; they had their own timelines. Certainly, it seemed like an early timeframe to make the decision. But in order for them to be able to manage the, you know, logistics of moving two teams to a third location, they made that decision on their own timelines. So, again, we don't know whether it's going to be a better situation on Sunday in Orchard Park, but they made the decision to have it moved. And I feel confident that we will beat Cleveland regardless of where we play. Right. 

Brian Mazurowski: I hope so too. Governor, thank you for the time, and great to talk with you on the storm, which it seems right now things going pretty well, all things considered with the cleanup. That's Governor Kathy Hochul on WBEN Buffalo.