Way too memorable
Many people remember where they were Feb. 5, 2010, as a wet, heavy snow began to fall, clinging to roads and yards, and accumulating at an alarming rate.
Even more remember what the storm dubbed “Snowmageddon” left in its wake.
Scott McCurdy was employed at a car dealership in West Liberty at the time. The South Park resident remembers sitting with his co-workers, watching the snow.
“We were at lunch and were talking about how quickly it was falling,” he said. “They sent us home early.”
His trip home, however, wasn’t a typical commute.
“It normally took me 30 minutes to get home. That day it took two hours,” he said.
Once home, McCurdy faced a whole new challenge.
“I had to dig my way into my driveway,” he said. “It took me an hour and a half to clear it. It normally takes me 20 minutes.”
When he awoke Saturday, he was surprised by what he saw.
“Everything was white.”
Although he planned to stay inside, McCurdy said his mother called asking for help.
“She lost power and wanted me to come get her. She lives by Mingo Park. The drive normally takes me 40 minutes. It took me three hours.”
McCurdy said he encountered downed trees and power lines. At one point, he said he got out of his car and walked.
“Some of the roads were untouched,” he said. “I thought I was going to die.”
By the time he and his mother made it back to his house, his power was out, so it was on to his sister’s house in California.
Road crews struggled to maintain even the barest of passable conditions, which prompting officials to ask drivers to stay off the roads, except for emergencies.
By Saturday afternoon, Washington and California were among area municipalities declaring states of emergency. Jeff Yates, director of Washington County Department of Public Safety, said the amount of snow – up to 2 feet in some areas within a 24-hour period – and the damage it caused remain unmatched.
Power outages posed the biggest problems. McCurdy said his power was back on by Saturday evening, but thousands of others were not so fortunate. About 47,000 electric customers in Washington County and nearly 13,000 in Greene County were without service at some point in the aftermath of the storm.
Sandy Roux lived in Richeyville at the time. She watched power lines droop under the weight of the snow and knew it was only a matter of time before she would lose power. It went out Saturday, and by Sunday she was calling area hotels.
“No power for the foreseeable future, and this was Super Bowl Sunday,” Roux said in an email. “I immediately called the Holiday Inn in Uniontown. By the time I called at 1 p.m., rooms were going quick. I reserved one for my twins, my nephew and my mom. By midafternoon, all of the hotels in Uniontown were booked.”
Roux said the weather didn’t dampen their Super Bowl party.
“Someone draped a sheet over the balcony in the Holidome, near the pool, and projected the game on it. It was great!”
She returned home midweek after reports indicated the area’s power was restored, but her excitement quickly turned to anguish.
“There were still five homes without power,” she said, and hers was one of them.
Roux hounded West Penn Power to return to the area, both through phone calls and a more personal approach.
“I went out looking for trucks. I drove around until I found some driving past Richeyville. I flagged them down,” she said.
Roux still commends the efforts of utility workers that week.
“They said they could get to it, and as promised, my power came back on.”
Roux wasn’t the only one to get creative. Constance Paulish of Mather woke up Saturday morning to find her family’s electricity out and the house cold. She and her husband, Frank, attempted to find a kerosene heater, with no luck.
“I was trying to figure out ways to make heat. Then I thought, steam makes heat! Our burners worked (on the gas stove), so I put big pots of water on the stovetop,” she said. “The house was 46 degrees.”
She left them to boil and went to take a nap. When she woke up, Paulish said water was running down the walls because of condensation.
“It was like someone turned on a sprinkler,” she said. “I screamed for my husband. We had to wipe down all the walls. But I did it; I made heat. It was 68 degrees in the house!”
The Paulishes went three days without electricity, but only tried to make heat once. Snowmageddon, Paulish said, will always stay with her. And while she tries not to panic about the weather, Paulish said the experience conditioned her to always be prepared.
“We finally did get a kerosene heater, after the power came back on,” she said. “But we survived. We had everything we needed.”