The winter storm that slammed the Valley Friday night into Saturday morning left a mess for residents and road crews. Saturday has been a day of digging out and cleaning up.
Youngstown and areas north got about a foot of snow. Further south, accumulations were greater. Some areas of Columbiana County got up to 20 inches.
"Probably up to past my knees," said Columbiana resident Dennis Miller. "Which is probably between 18-20 inches."
The snow came down at about an inch an hour, making travel a nightmare. The Pittsburgh International Airport shut down all flights, most likely until Sunday morning. Road crews struggled to keep up with the snow.
"We had 35 to 45 road crews out working the whole night," said Ohio Department of Transportation spokesman Justin Chesnic. "It was really difficult keeping up with the snow."
Columbiana declared a snow emergency to get all cars off the roads so plow trucks could get through. But that didn't solve all the city's plowing problems.
"The problem with this amount of snow is that the plow trucks are getting stuck also, and that's creating a problem." said Jay Groner, Columbiana city manager. "We need to stop what we are doing and we get other tractors or trucks to go out and pull the plow trucks out."
Groner urges drivers to be cautious. "Be careful when you're going by a snow plow," he said. "Anything can happen. A snow plow could hit on a manhole and divert into the opposite lane. Hopefully that doesn't happen, but just slow down and be aware of your surroundings."
ODOT says crews will be working throughout the night trying to clear the roads of snow as quickly as they can.
