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Chicago area snow finally ends, cleanup continues
Winter storm clean-up was underway Thursday in the Chicago area.
CEDAR LAKE, Ind. - It’s been more than 24 hours since a powerful winter storm blew through the Chicago area. But the cleanup continued Thursday, especially in the south suburbs and northwest Indiana, which got hit hardest.
You know you got walloped pretty good when it takes two days to clean up.
"We got a lot of snow," said one woman shoveling her driveway for the second day in a row. "I don’t think anyone would believe how much we have."
Winter storm clean-up was also underway in Chicago as Streets and Sanitation crews focused on clearing the city's side streets.
Three hundred plows were deployed, but officials were asking for patience and, if possible, for drivers to move their cars.
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While it’s been almost 24 hours since the snow stopped, Interstate 394 was still snow-covered in places along with patches of ice. A couple of cars slipped off the roadway and had to be towed out.
Cedar Lake, Indiana received about 12.5 inches of snow. Lots of people were outside for round two of shoveling, clearing the snow left behind by plows.
A full fleet of public works crews were still trying to clear the snow in Cedar Lake, focusing mostly on residential areas.
"They'll clean up in town. We’ve had crews on the road 24 hours a day starting 11 p.m. Tuesday night. So we haven't stopped since then. So we're making really good progress," said Randy Niemeyer, Cedar Lake town president.
"We're shoveling today. Non-stop, but these guys did a great job. They were here yesterday and they were here today. I think I came into the driveway yesterday after the plow came, and then of course we got plowed in again," said Sharon Arnold, a Cedar Lake resident.
With all this snow now piled into huge mounds, the question is what do you do if it snows again?
"For now, I think we still have enough room in the ditches and roadsides to pile the snow," Niemeyer said. "But if we get another significant event, it could be very challenging."
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The official snowfall for Chicago from Wednesday’s storm was 5.6 inches at O’Hare International Airport, the most this winter. Areas around Midway Airport got 11 inches.
Lansing recorded 12.5 inches, Pontiac 10 to 12 and, in Indiana, 10 to 13 inches in Lake and Porter counties. They were the highest snowfall totals in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana since the middle of February last year.