Written by Nemaha County HeraldWhile the song “White Christmas” is meant to help people get into the holiday spirit, a large portion of the nation has had its fill of snow after two heavy snowfalls were recorded during December.
The most recent storm struck Nebraska on Christmas Eve day and continued with scattered snowfall through Sunday, although accumulation was much lighter on the last day. Snow Removal in AuburnAuburn City Street Commissioner Harry Bridgmon said the Christmas weekend snow again taxed his crew and equipment after having dealt with nearly a foot of snow just two weeks earlier. The latest snowfall estimate was approximately 14 inches in Nemaha County, although blowing snow from accompanying strong winds left drifts several feet high, especially out in rural Nemaha County. The highest measured wind gusts in this area were about 46 miles per hour. Bridgmon said his crew of four full-time and three part-time personnel logged long hours over recent days. He said 12- to 14-hour workdays weren’t uncommon and snow removal typically began between 4 and 6 in the morning.
Bridgmon told the newspaper Monday that city snow clean-up efforts were still focused on parking along streets, and would next emphasize seeing to it that all city streets had received at least two passes through so there would be room to push any additional snow if the area was to
receive a light snowfall predicted for Tuesday evening and possibly into Wednesday. After that stage has been completed, crews will return to clearing snow around intersections where the vision of drivers has been compromised due to the height of the snow piled on the curbs. “Everyone needs to be especially careful driving with so much snow remaining near the intersections and with the potential for icy roadways. We want everyone to be extra cautious until we are able to get our work done. We have been and continue to work long hours, but there is just so much we can get done. We get tired too and need to get some rest,” Bridgmon said. When asked about what effect the long hours would have on the City Street Department’s budget, Bridgmon said, “I’ll leave that up to the City’s Budget/Finance committee and the rest of the Council. It’s not going to be cheap with all of the overtime added to the fact that it takes about $100 a day in fuel for each dump truck and the loader can use about $70 of fuel per day. We’ll just do what needs to be done and the city will need to determine where the funding will come from.” County’s PerspectiveMonty Lovelace, District 2 Nemaha County Commissioner and Board Chairman, updated the newspaper on the status of the county roads crews work as of Monday evening. Nemaha County has 15 roads employees in three districts.Lovelace said, “A majority of the county roads that have residences along them had been opened as of Dec. 28. Roads being opened referred to at least one pass through the middle having been made. However, a return trip will be needed to push the snow further into the grader ditches in case this area receives more snow. Lovelace said roads crews would likely be busy the next couple of days continuing the process of further opening the county’s roads.” Lovelace said roads crews worked all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday trying to get it to a point where people would have access to roads away from their rural homes. The most recent snowstorm differed from the one earlier in the month as it was accompanied by strong winds which led to some cleared roads becoming drifted again and much higher drifts to break through this time. The chairman said, “I believe our roads crews did an outstanding job. We realize people need to get back on the roads when the weather improves and I believe our crews accomplished that.”Lovelace has heard from local residents that this was the first time in quite a while that the road graders used the “V” plows to tackle the large drifts. Some drifts encountered were about seven to eight foot high and took considerable time to clear a path through. When asked what impact the snow removal might have on the county’s budget, the chairman responded, “It’s a little early to tell. While our expenses for fuel will be more than expected at this point for snow removal and our hours worked above average, we utilize compensatory time off for our employees instead of paying overtime. What might be a problem later on is the condition of our roads when spring arrives as they will require a considerable amount of attention and rock to return the road surfaces to the condition which is desired.”Light snow fell again Tuesday night into Wednesday, but wasn’t expected to create many additional problems.
The most recent storm struck Nebraska on Christmas Eve day and continued with scattered snowfall through Sunday, although accumulation was much lighter on the last day. Snow Removal in AuburnAuburn City Street Commissioner Harry Bridgmon said the Christmas weekend snow again taxed his crew and equipment after having dealt with nearly a foot of snow just two weeks earlier. The latest snowfall estimate was approximately 14 inches in Nemaha County, although blowing snow from accompanying strong winds left drifts several feet high, especially out in rural Nemaha County. The highest measured wind gusts in this area were about 46 miles per hour. Bridgmon said his crew of four full-time and three part-time personnel logged long hours over recent days. He said 12- to 14-hour workdays weren’t uncommon and snow removal typically began between 4 and 6 in the morning.
Bridgmon told the newspaper Monday that city snow clean-up efforts were still focused on parking along streets, and would next emphasize seeing to it that all city streets had received at least two passes through so there would be room to push any additional snow if the area was to
receive a light snowfall predicted for Tuesday evening and possibly into Wednesday. After that stage has been completed, crews will return to clearing snow around intersections where the vision of drivers has been compromised due to the height of the snow piled on the curbs. “Everyone needs to be especially careful driving with so much snow remaining near the intersections and with the potential for icy roadways. We want everyone to be extra cautious until we are able to get our work done. We have been and continue to work long hours, but there is just so much we can get done. We get tired too and need to get some rest,” Bridgmon said. When asked about what effect the long hours would have on the City Street Department’s budget, Bridgmon said, “I’ll leave that up to the City’s Budget/Finance committee and the rest of the Council. It’s not going to be cheap with all of the overtime added to the fact that it takes about $100 a day in fuel for each dump truck and the loader can use about $70 of fuel per day. We’ll just do what needs to be done and the city will need to determine where the funding will come from.” County’s PerspectiveMonty Lovelace, District 2 Nemaha County Commissioner and Board Chairman, updated the newspaper on the status of the county roads crews work as of Monday evening. Nemaha County has 15 roads employees in three districts.Lovelace said, “A majority of the county roads that have residences along them had been opened as of Dec. 28. Roads being opened referred to at least one pass through the middle having been made. However, a return trip will be needed to push the snow further into the grader ditches in case this area receives more snow. Lovelace said roads crews would likely be busy the next couple of days continuing the process of further opening the county’s roads.” Lovelace said roads crews worked all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday trying to get it to a point where people would have access to roads away from their rural homes. The most recent snowstorm differed from the one earlier in the month as it was accompanied by strong winds which led to some cleared roads becoming drifted again and much higher drifts to break through this time. The chairman said, “I believe our roads crews did an outstanding job. We realize people need to get back on the roads when the weather improves and I believe our crews accomplished that.”Lovelace has heard from local residents that this was the first time in quite a while that the road graders used the “V” plows to tackle the large drifts. Some drifts encountered were about seven to eight foot high and took considerable time to clear a path through. When asked what impact the snow removal might have on the county’s budget, the chairman responded, “It’s a little early to tell. While our expenses for fuel will be more than expected at this point for snow removal and our hours worked above average, we utilize compensatory time off for our employees instead of paying overtime. What might be a problem later on is the condition of our roads when spring arrives as they will require a considerable amount of attention and rock to return the road surfaces to the condition which is desired.”Light snow fell again Tuesday night into Wednesday, but wasn’t expected to create many additional problems.
If you could get close enough to read the sign on the door, you would see that Auburn State Bank was closed for the Christmas holiday. The snowstorm’s occurring over a holiday weekend proved to be fortunate timing and gave people extra time to remove the approximately 14 inches of snow and considerably higher drifts.
It truly was a winter to remember with records broken all across the States!
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