A day for shovels, plows
Though the intense snow that paralyzed southwestern Pennsylvania finally subsided early Monday, the remnants of the winter blast will be felt for at least the rest of the week. Snow blowers, snowplows and shovels were the order of the day throughout the area as residents began the arduous task of digging out from the biggest snowstorm in several years and the biggest of this winter season.
Terry Parrish, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, said Fayette and Greene counties received between 20 and 25 inches of snow, which began falling early Sunday and did not let up until Monday morning.
Because of the storm, Gov. Edward G. Rendell declared a statewide emergency disaster, enabling state, county and local municipalities to deal with snow immediately without going through time-consuming bid and contract procedures.
The snow, coupled with stiff winds, caused at least three structures to collapse and caused drifts as high as 12 feet in some locations.
A three-pump protective canopy at the Route 40 & 21 Exxon in Uniontown collapsed early Monday morning, apparently taxed by the snowfall that paralyzed area roadways.
Steve Stuck, owner of the service station located at the intersection of routes 40 and 21, said he hopes to have the 40-by-50-foot steel and aluminum canopy removed today.
The station was closed Monday following the collapse and hoped to reopen today, he said.
“Basically, the heavy snow (Sunday) night appears to have caused the canopy to collapse between 2 and 4 a.m. Luckily, nobody was injured and there was no damage, other than to the canopy itself,” Stuck said.
“Hopefully, by (Tuesday) we’re going to have the current canopy removed.”
Stuck said that he spent Monday devising a cleanup and reopening plan, with the latter depending largely on how fast removal of the fallen canopy can take place.
“We’re closed right now. We’re planning on opening at some point (Tuesday), once we get the cleanup process going,” said Stuck, who noted of the damaging snowfall and high winds, “It was pretty severe conditions, that’s for sure.”
Meanwhile, police officers in Connellsville responded to the former Spagnol Lumber Co. along Route 201 after learning that a large portion of the roof had collapsed.
Cooper speculated that the abundance of snow coupled with gusting winds caused the downing of the structure.
“We didn’t know anything about it until we received a telephone call from Traft Construction,” said Cooper. “We’re not sure just exactly when it happened.”
According to Fayette 911, the roof on the former Frey’s Tavern in Smithfield, now known as the Lucky Star, came down Monday, but there were no reported injuries.
Officials at 911 centers in both Fayette and Greene counties reported no major accidents during the snowstorm.
The steady snowfall throughout the day Sunday made keeping roads passable downright impossible for PennDOT crews, who spent most of Monday after the snow stopped tackling main and secondary roads in an effort to make them clear.
Brent Blake, highway equipment manager for PennDOT District 12 in Uniontown, said crews are in “battle mode” and will work around the clock to ensure that roads, main arteries especially, are suitable for travel.
As of Monday afternoon, Route 857 from Rubles Mill Road to the state line was closed, as were portions of Route 653 near Normalville. Blake said PennDOT has an adequate supply of salt and anti-skid material, though trucks have still not been able to properly treat those sections of road because of the blowing and drifting snow.
“With those 20- to 25- mph winds, the snow is blowing back into the road as fast as we can punch it out,” he said. “We won’t be able to make much progress until the wind slows down.”
Blake said there have been no equipment breakdowns and most main roads were wet or almost dry by mid-afternoon Monday. He said many drivers took the advice of PennDOT and state police to avoid traveling only unless absolutely necessary, which he said resulted in fewer problems for motorists and road crews.
He said many main and secondary roads are clear, but it will take at least another two days of non-stop work by crews to get all side roads passable again. Because of Rendell’s state of emergency declaration, Blake said PennDOT will have more flexibility in helping townships, cities and boroughs with snow removal and will allow him to rent more equipment needed to clear the snow without going through the bid process.
Blake, who had been out since 11 p.m. Sunday night, said he was hoping to get home at some point Monday, but with snow in the forecast Monday night, he wasn’t placing any bets.
“I have no idea when I will get home,” he said. “If this next storm makes it in, I won’t be going anywhere.”
The storm also left some travelers in a precarious position.
Harold Wiegel, 90, of Thorton, W.Va., was stranded on Route 857 and had to be rescued from his vehicle as blowing and drifting snow halted his progress.
According to John Lingo, volunteer disaster coordinator for the American Red Cross, once Wiegel was taken to the Holiday Inn in Uniontown, he realized that medication he needed was still inside his car.
Lingo said two young men, Chris and Jason Alexander of Smithfield, rode down in their all-terrain vehicles to recover the medication for Wiegel, who hopes to return to West Virginia sometime on Tuesday.
“It’s just amazing to me that these guys would go through that snow to get that man’s medicine,” he said. “Through the cold and wind, they got to his car and we were able to run the prescription up to him. I think it’s just terrific.”
Community relations trooper Brian R. Burden said that state police have seen surprisingly few traffic accidents caused by the bad weather.
“It seems like people have basically taken the holiday off, and that’s a good thing,” said Burden.
There were no fatalities or serious injuries caused by any of the minor traffic accidents to which state police have responded, said Burden.
He noted that police were patrolling, but are still contending with some secondary roads that remain closed.
Tough travel made for a tough day for employees of the Herald-Standard circulation department, as well. According to circulation director Linda Toth, at least two delivery vans needed to be towed from locations in the Lemont Furnace area and other drivers found themselves stranded or unable to complete routes because of impassable roads.
As of 4 p.m. Monday, Toth said copies of Monday’s edition were still being delivered to some areas. Routes that typically take an hour to complete were taking up to 3 hours to get done on Monday, she said.
Toth said winter weather can be the source of much anxiety for her and the employees in her department.
“We want to do the best we can to get the paper out to our customers, but we have to think of the safety of our drivers, carriers and employees at the same time,” she said. “All in all, our staff did an outstanding job today.”
Toth said subscribers who did not receive a copy of Monday’s Herald-Standard will receive it with Tuesday’s edition.
She asked subscribers to be patient with their carrier, asking them to allow extra time for delivery because of the heavy snowfall already on the ground and the snow showers expected overnight Monday.
School districts that had scheduled Monday as a make-up day for earlier weather-related cancellations in the school year were forced to cancel classes, and most school districts announced early in the day Monday that classes were cancelled for Tuesday, too.
West Virginia University will remain closed Tuesday, with the campus scheduled to reopen on Wednesday, according to a University press release. California University of Pennsylvania is scheduled to be open for classes Tuesday, as is Penn State Fayette.
Almost 2,100 homes were without power Sunday night, according to Allegheny Power spokesman Mike Grandillo. He said the outage began around 11 p.m. and service was restored to most customers by 1 p.m. Monday, though a few isolated spots were still without power as of 6 p.m.
“We still have a few spots that we need to get to because of storm damage,” he said.
Grandillo said at the height of the storm, 55,000 Allegheny Power customers were without power, most of them coming from southern West Virginia. He said Fayette County was the only area in Pennsylvania that reported service problems during the snow.
While the worst of the storm is over, winter is still far from over, according to Parrish, who said their site near Pittsburgh International Airport received almost 9 inches of snow. He said another 2 to 4 inches was expected overnight Monday with higher accumulations predicted for higher elevations.
The storm’s intensity was fueled by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico that combined with cold air in the Northeast.
He said the track of the storm played an important part in determining snowfall totals.
“We had 8.8 inches, Fayette and Greene has between 20 and 25 inches, but places in Garrett County, Md., and Preston County, W.V., got 36 to 40 inches,” Parrish said. “If the storm had shifted another 50 miles to the north, you might have gotten 40 inches, too.”
Parrish, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service for 35 years, said he has been working eight days straight, but he begins a three-week Florida vacation Wednesday. Before he leaves, though, he said conditions should improve for the region by the end of the week.
Scattered snow is forecast for Tuesday, with an inch or less of accumulation possible, and highs in the lower 30s.
Temperatures should be in the 40s Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with rain showers likely on Friday, he said.
—
Herald-Standard staff writers Paul Sunyak, Jennifer Harr and Patty Shultz contributed to this story.