Shovels busy as residents dig out
Ed Bedwell and George Moore became friends with neighboring Washington businesses.
The two men got to spend some time together Sunday afternoon outside their shops on East Wheeling Street digging out from the snowstorm that slammed the area Friday and Saturday dumping as much as two feet on some parts of Washington County.
Temperatures are expected to be in the 30s and 40s this week, according to the National Weather Service.
“This is the third day (of shoveling),” said Moore, 55, of Canonsburg, who finished clearing the sidewalk in front of his business, Countryside Frame Shop & Gallery, earlier Sunday and gave Bedwell a hand in the afternoon while the sun helped with the thaw. “I slept well after shoveling.”
Bedwell, 67, of Washington and owner of an art and artifact museum, a week ago was at his winter home in Florida and has been busy since returning home.
“I have a 173-acre farm (in Washington),” Bedwell said. “I shoveled for three-and-a-half hours yesterday.”
Tony Patterson, 77, of nearby East Walnut Street, opted for a different strategy.
“I waited until today when the weather broke,” said Patterson who was shoveling his driveway.
Patterson said he had stocked up on groceries before the snowstorm so he wouldn’t have to venture out in the dangerous conditions.
Patterson is hoping he doesn’t have to deal with many more snowstorms this winter and doesn’t plan to bring out his tractor.
Greene County emergency management director Greg Leathers said conditions there improved Sunday. Areas in the county got between a foot and a foot-and-a-half of snow between Friday and Saturday.
“Everything is good,” Leathers said Sunday. “The streets are wet. The borough did a nice job in Waynesburg (where 19 inches of snow fell, according to the National Weather Service) getting the roads cleared. People are digging out today.”
National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Rehak said he doesn’t expect flooding problems in the next week from the snowfall because temperatures will be below freezing at night and above freezing during the day. Also, no big rainstorms are predicted.
“There is no doubt there is a lot of snow in the Mon basin, and a lot of water locked up in it,” Rehak said. “But in the near term, there is no legitimate concern. It will take a lot of time for the snow to melt.”
Also, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Chairman Sean Logan on Sunday apologized to travelers who were stranded on the 16-mile section of the road in Somerset and Bedford counties over the weekend after several tractor trailers jackknifed Friday night while ascending the eastern slope of the Allegheny Mountain approaching the Allegheny Tunnel.
Logan promised a “thorough analysis” of the incident, according to a news release issued Sunday afternoon.
Crews finished removing travelers and vehicles from that portion of the turnpike Sunday afternoon.
The westbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike between the Breezewood and Bedford interchanges remained closed Sunday. The eastbound lanes were reopened earlier in the day.