since February 3 was lifted at midnight. Cars were required to have at least three people in them and a citywide speed limit of was enacted. That Monday, at least 100 residents of Concord (Erie County), New York were still isolated Many colleges and schools in western New York reopened that day, after having been closed since Thursday, January 27, seven consecutive snow days. Since the local governments were now able to be directly reimbursed by the federal government for contracting with companies for snow removal, the USACE was not assigned further work as of February 8; they finished work in progress and completed their contracting efforts on February 13. The coordinator of the federal disaster relief, Casey, pulled out the Fort Bragg troops on February 8. By February 9, the City of Buffalo had signed agreements with private firms to finish the snow removal, a task that would take nine more days. The temperature rose above freezing for the first time since Christmas on February 9, with a high of . The Buffalo mayor also lifted the rule requiring at least three people per car between the hours of 7:00 pm and 6:00 am. The next day, it rose to and then made it to about the next three days. On February 11, Mayor Makowski lifted the driving ban at noon, but the citywide speed limit remained in effect. Buffalo city schools reopened on February 14, after more than 10 consecutive snow days. One school remained open through the blizzard. The Gow School, a residential school in South Wales, NY. Food supplies began to dwindle by Monday, January 31, and so the school's food services had to negotiate with the army for helicopter delivery since the school's own trucks were immobilized by the storm. Aftermath The high winds of the blizzard packed the snow so tightly and high, drifts reached in places; normal snow removal equipment was ineffective, and earth-moving equipment, such as front-end loaders, had to be used. Colonel Daniel Ludwig of the USACE stated the "snow was very densely packed and that snow plows would be virtually useless on most of the roads". NWS meteorologist Ben Kolker noted on one of the roads near the NWS forecast office, high lifts were used "to dig away at it and break it up like big hunks of rock". In Depew, a suburb of Buffalo, volunteer firemen used a trenching