As a fierce winter storm dumped more than 50 inches of snow on the City of Erie over roughly one week, city snow plowing crews were besieged with challenges.
During the storm’s initial days, up to two inches of snow an hour fell throughout the city, piling up on both main roads and side streets.
That volume of heavy snow, over subsequent days, led to thick layers of densely-packed snow and ice coating most of the city’s streets and sidewalks.
The massive snow-clearing effort saw the city bring in equipment/manpower from PennDOT and private contractors and redeploy employees from other city departments.
And there was another significant hurdle.
Abandoned cars caused ‘severe’ situation during snowstorm
More than 300 vehicles were either stuck or abandoned on city streets, at various locations throughout city limits, which made it difficult to impossible to clear those roadways.
Those vehicles were either moved with the cooperation of their owners or towed from those areas after repeated warnings/requests to move them, city officials said.