Baby Lucy arrived Tuesday evening happy and healthy, at 6 pounds and 2 ounces. 
 
 But oh, what a delivery. 
 
 Her mom is Bethany Hojnacki, who lives on Carlyle Avenue in South Buffalo. Bethany went into labor around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, as the brutal lake effect storm bore down on her neighborhood. 
 
 In milder weather, Bethany and her husband, Jared, would have made a beeline for Mercy Hospital. But Carlyle was largely impassable. When Jared Hojnacki saw firefighters helping a stranded motorist near the house, he tried to enlist the Fire Department’s help for his wife’s cause. 
 
 That’s when the family found its first dose of good fortune. While the roads were hopelessly clogged with snow and cars, the stranded motorist was a labor and delivery nurse who works at Mercy Hospital, according to Deborah Hojnacki, Jared’s mother and the baby’s grandmother. 
 
 The nurse — whom Deborah Hojnacki knew only by her first name, Denise — decided to stay with the pregnant mom until she could be moved to the hospital. 
 
 Hours passed. When word spread through the neighborhood that Bethany was in labor, some of its youngsters hit the street with shovels to try to open a path. But the small army of good Samaritans could not move enough of the several tons of snow choking Carlyle Avenue, Deborah Hojnacki said. 
 
 In the afternoon, a Fire Department vehicle arrived to retrieve Bethany and get her to Mercy Hospital. 
 
 “They didn’t get stuck on Carlyle,’’ Deborah Hojnacki said. 
 
 “They got stuck on Abbott because of all the stranded cars.’’ 
 
 The fire officials went to Plan B. They took Bethany to the fire station at Abbott Road and Hollywood Avenue. A second Mercy Hospital nurse, who also had been stranded, stayed by her side as well. 
 
 Then at 9:31 p.m., Lucy Grace Hojnacki joined the gathering. 
 
 “The baby was born, and she’s healthy,’’ grandmother Hojnacki said. She is Jared and Bethany’s second child; they also have a 19-month-old son. 
 
 Around 45 minutes after Lucy was born, mom and baby were moved in an ambulance the final three-quarters of a mile to Mercy Hospital. It was escorted by two snowmobiles and backed up by a piece of heavy snow-moving equipment, just in case. 
 
 “They just kind of weaved around streets, and up sidewalks to get to the hospital,’’ Deborah Hojnacki said, after talking to her son. 
 
 “We are just very thankful,’’ she said. 
 
 Another area couple also had an interesting birth experience. 
 
 Tom Stuebe was in Colden, separated by miles of snow and a driving ban, when he saw his wife, Heather Stuebe, give birth Wednesday to their baby daughter in Buffalo. 
 
 Around 11 this morning, Beatrice Stuebe was born in The Birthing Center of Buffalo, at 2500 Main St. 
 
 But Tom Stuebe was back home, with the couple’s other children. 
 
 So someone held up a computer tablet in the delivery room to give the Stuebe clan a view – via Skype – of Beatrice’s first breaths. The healthy baby weighed more than 10 pounds, said Dr. Katharine Morrison. 
 
 email: mspina@buffnews.com ||||| BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Homeowners opened their front doors to find themselves sealed in by sheer walls of white. Shovelers turned walkways into head-high canyons. A woman gave birth in a firehouse after the snow prevented her from reaching the hospital. 
 
 In a Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014 photo, Brian F. Miller clears snow off his wife's car on Boyd Street in Watertown, N.Y. Before he finished his wife announced from the porch that she didn't have to go to... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo provided by Chrissy Hazard , a dog looks at the snow that was blown in the back door of the home of Chrissy Hazard on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014 in Cheektowaga, N.Y. A ferocious lake-effect... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo provided by Chrissy Hazard, Mark Hazard, his son Jason and Bryan Juda shovel out the snow from the home of Chrissy Hazard on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014 in Cheektowaga, N.Y. A ferocious lake-effect... (Associated Press) 
 
 Snowdrifts create a beautiful setting as a man tries to dig out his driveway on Bowen Rd in Lancaster, N.Y. Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014. A lake-effect snow storm dumped over five feet of snow in areas across... (Associated Press) 
 
 Art Hauret pauses after he measures the nearly four foot accumulation of snow in his driveway on Summerfield Drive in Lancaster, N.Y. Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014. A ferocious storm dumped massive piles... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo from a surveillance camera operated by the New York State Thruway Authority, a person climbs through piles of snow next to abandoned vehicles on the Thruway, near Lackawanna, N.Y., Wednesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Fidell Gomez walks back to his hotel in the snow in Hamburg, N.Y. on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014. A ferocious lake-effect storm left the Buffalo area buried under 6 feet of snow Wednesday, trapping people... (Associated Press) 
 
 A plane negotiates its way through the snow at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Buffalo, N.Y., as a lake-effect snowstorm with freezing temperatures hit the area Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. Temperatures... (Associated Press) 
 
 A CSX freight train plows its way past the Cemetery Rd. overpass in Lancaster, N.Y. Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014. A lake-effect snow storm dumped over five feet of snow in areas across Western New York.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Bob Wilcox clears the snow at the end of his driveway on Bowen Rd. in Lancaster, N.Y. Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014. A ferocious storm dumped massive piles of snow on parts of upstate New York, trapping... (Associated Press) 
 
 A massive band of lake effect snow moves through the south of Buffalo, N.Y. on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. Several feet of lake-effect snow paralyzed the Buffalo area Tuesday, forcing state troopers to deliver... (Associated Press) 
 
 Charles Miller a tractor trailor driver for DOT foods hugs and says goodbye to Hope Clingan, a college student from Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio along camp road in Hamburg, N.Y., on Wednesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Vehicles sit at a closed New York State Thruway entrance in Hamburg, N.Y. on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014. A ferocious lake-effect storm left the Buffalo area buried under 6 feet of snow Wednesday, trapping... (Associated Press) 
 
 Even for Buffalo, a place that typically shrugs at snow, this was an epic snowfall, the kind of onslaught folks will be telling their grandchildren about. 
 
 The Buffalo area found itself buried under as much as 5½ feet of snow Wednesday, with another lake-effect storm expected to bring 2 to 3 more feet by late Thursday. 
 
 "This is an historic event. When all is said and done, this snowstorm will break all sorts of records, and that's saying something in Buffalo," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a visit to the city. 
 
 The storm came in so fast and furious over Lake Erie early Tuesday it trapped more than 100 vehicles along a 132-mile stretch of the New York State Thruway, which remained closed Wednesday. People were marooned at homes, on highways and at work. Residents who can handle 6 inches of snow as if it were a light dusting were forced to improvise. 
 
 Tom Wilson, of West Seneca, split a Salisbury steak frozen dinner with co-workers and tried his best to get some rest when he was stuck 36 hours at his warehouse job. 
 
 "I slept on a pallet. Then I slept on some office chairs, and then I went back to the pallet," he said. "Then I found some sponges to lay on. I found one pack of sponges unopened. That looks like a pillow to me." 
 
 "We tried to make popcorn with a two-by-four, two empty pop kegs, some charcoal and a dust pan," he added. "It didn't work." 
 
 Trapped on a team bus on the Thruway for nearly 30 hours, the Niagara University women's basketball team melted snow for water, posed with long faces for pictures that were posted online and generally tried to keep each other's spirits up. 
 
 "I'm sure when it's all done we'll look back at it and remember how great a bonding experience it was. For now, I think everyone just wants to get home and sleep in their own beds," said coach Kendra Faustin. 
 
 How snowy was it? The National Weather Service said it was so bad that some of the spotters it relies on to update accumulation totals couldn't get out of their houses to take measurements. 
 
 Bethany Hojnacki went into labor at the height of the storm and ended up giving birth in a Buffalo fire station after she and her husband couldn't get to the hospital. Baby Lucy weighed in at 6 pounds, 2 ounces. Mother and child were later taken to the hospital in an ambulance. 
 
 Cuomo said Wednesday afternoon that all trapped travelers had been removed from their cars, though some truckers were staying with their rigs. 
 
 Asked by reporters how officials could allow people to be snowbound in cars for 24 hours, Cuomo cited a jackknifed trailer that prevented plows from removing fast-falling snow and drivers' own wrongheaded choices. 
 
 "What happened was, even though the Thruway was officially closed, people went on. We didn't immediately block every entrance. It was a mistake," Cuomo said. 
 
 "Part of it is citizen responsibility," he added. "If the road is closed, it's closed. 
 
 The storm was blamed for up to seven deaths in western New York, at least four of them from heart attacks. Erie County officials said a man was discovered in his car, which was in a ditch and buried in snow 24 miles east of Buffalo. It was unclear how he died. 
 
 Sunny skies returned to some hard-hit areas Wednesday, but workers were still trying to cart off the acres of snow. Lake-effect snow fell heavily on some northern New York areas east of Lake Ontario. 
 
 With an additional 2 to 3 feet possible by Thursday, the one-week totals for the Buffalo area will approach the average snowfall for a year: 93.6 inches, or close to 8 feet. Cuomo warned that a weekend warm-up could lead to significant flooding when the thick blanket of snow melts. Forecasters say rain is possible this weekend. 
 
 The highest snowfall total for the Buffalo area this time was 65 inches, recorded in Cheektowaga. National Weather Service meteorologist David Church said that forecasters haven't determined yet how this storm ranks, but that 60 to 70 inches in 24 hours is probably in the top 5 for the region. 
 
 The heaviest 24-hour snowfall on record in the Lower 48 states is 75.8 inches, which fell at Silver Lake, Colorado, in 1921, according to the government. 
 
 The governor said it would take four or five days to clean up. 
 
 The Buffalo Bills offered $10 an hour plus game tickets for people willing to help shovel out the stands in Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, in the snow belt southeast of the city. 
 
 Team spokesman Scott Berchtold said the team has an estimated 220,000 tons of snow to remove from the stadium before Sunday's game against the Jets — more than ever before. 
 
 The snow was heaped so high on the roof a Cheektowaga home that when it fell, the force blew in the back door, frame and all, and filled the living room with snow. 
 
 "It was a huge crash. ... We actually thought that it was the roof coming down in the house," said Chrissy Gritzke Hazard, who was home with her husband, five children and three of her children's friends. 
 
 Amtrak passenger train service between Albany and the Buffalo area was suspended. And that old "Neither snow nor rain ..." Postal Service motto? Mail delivery was interrupted in certain communities with driving bans. 
 
 The storm struck Buffalo on a day when temperatures dropped to freezing or below in all 50 states. At least a foot of fresh snow was expected in parts of Michigan through Friday, adding to deep snow on the ground. 
 
 In Corpus Christi, Texas, experts are caring for about 140 turtles stunned in a cold snap that left the reptiles stranded on Gulf Coast beaches. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Michael Hill contributed from Albany.
– Seven people have now died as a result of Buffalo's freak snowstorm, reports AP, but little Lucy Hojnacki provides an antidote to the depressing stat. The Buffalo News recounts her amazing delivery story: When mom Bethany went into labor in their South Buffalo home yesterday morning, dad Jared had no chance of getting her to the hospital through all the snow. He spotted firefighters helping a stranded driver on their street, and that driver just happened to be a labor and delivery nurse. The nurse stayed with Bethany for hours until a Fire Department vehicle successfully navigated their side street, only to find the main road impassable because of abandoned cars. Instead of the hospital, firefighters took Team Hojnacki to the fire station, where a second nurse, also stranded, helped with the delivery at 9:31pm. “The baby was born, and she’s healthy,’’ says grandma Deborah Hojnacki. All finally made it to the hospital later that night. Meanwhile, lots more snow was expected though tonight, on top of the 4 or 5 feet already on the ground in some places, reports the Daily News.