A catastrophic snowstorm that hit western New York has claimed the lives of at least 37 people in Erie County. Monique Alexander, Casey Maccarone’s mother, was among them.
Maccarone said that her mother enjoyed walking around her Buffalo neighborhood.
Alexander, 52, decided to go out on Christmas Eve and assured her daughter she’d be coming back.
Many establishments had already begun to close that day, as word spread of a blizzard that would dump more than 50 inches of snow in some locations.
Maccarone told the publication that her mother didn’t say where she was going, however she assumed she was heading to the stores before they closed.
Her mother, however, never returned to the house.
Maccarone added that she realized something was wrong right away, so she sort of accepted it straight away, but it’s terrible realizing she was outside for so long, too, since no emergency responders were permitted to come outside.
Despite the fact that Alexander has experienced numerous storms before this one, the snowstorm has been unlike any the city has seen before, with the death toll exceeding that of a catastrophic blizzard in 1977.
Her mother always felt like superwoman and unstoppable, Maccarone stated. Can’t really tell her mum anything, she’s going to do what she wants to do.
Alexander had left the house at 3 p.m. on the day before Christmas, and her daughter had grown concerned after not hearing from her for a few hours. She joined a Facebook group of Buffalo locals searching for help during the storm.
That’s when she got a message from someone stating they spotted somebody who matched her mother’s description.
The guy who had messaged her contacted her in tears, saying that he had discovered her mother’s dead in the snow. The National Guard later recovered it.
Her kids lost their grandma, and being a wonderful grandmother was her most essential role in her life, Maccarone said. And now all they have are memories.
