Part of the story is that the city didn't declare an emergency and close the roads before people went to work, so many were trapped trying to get home that would have stayed home that day. That's one of the traps of civilization: people expect someone in charge to tell them what to do and when to stop doing it. The woman in the story was a nurse. A city like Buffalo should have plans for medical personnel to stay at work instead of going on the road. Farmers used to tie a rope between the house and barn for finding their way in blizzards. They lived where they worked. This is a concept that the automobile culture just can't grasp.