First Posted: 2/28/2015
LIMA — As residents emerged from the blanket of snow that hit the area Sunday, many were trying to help maintain a sense of normalcy for those residents.
Guy Verhoff, observer for the National Weather Service in Pandora, reported a total of 4.4 inches of snowfall from Saturday night into Sunday afternoon.
For Mark Pohlman and his two sons Adam and Scott, of Delphos, that meant clearing snow from the parking lots of Meijer and 3600 Elida Road in Lima.
Pohlman owns the building located at 3600 Elida Road and enlists his sons to help him keep the parking lot clean for customers, even in inclement weather. The three were out clearing off the parking lots late Saturday night and nearly all day Sunday, Scott said.
Without clear roads however, getting anywhere around town would have been a challenge.
Ohio Department of Transportation trucks made their way to the streets at about 8 p.m. Saturday, said Kirk Slusher, deputy director for the ODOT’s District 1.
Because their duties began Saturday evening, crews were out clearing the streets and laying down salt and brine material until about 6 p.m. Sunday, Slusher said.
“Our main responsibility with the Ohio Department of Transportation is to assure that the roads are clear and free of any kind of hazardous obstacle, which includes snow,” Slusher said. “This is our signature event, this is what we do and so when the snow starts to fall, we are on top of it.”
Allen County’s road maintenance superintendent Dan Hanjora said 17 trucks were out clearing the snow on county roads, “it’s just the snow that doesn’t stop,” Hanjora said of the snowfall, noting his employees were “taking 2 or 3 inches off [the roads] at a time, and when they get done with their route they run back through it and it’s like they’re starting over again.”
Hanjora said, “As far as the salt situation goes, we’re probably not using any more salt this year than we did last year,” adding that the area had seen more 1- to 2-inch snowfalls this year, whereas last year, there were more frequent, larger snowfalls inch-wise.
In Auglaize County, assistant county engineer Kevin Schnell said the area saw about 6 inches of snow, leaving county workers to plow two to four different passes over the county roads.
As of Sunday evening, Schnell said the warm sun, hardly any wind speeds and temperatures near 30 degrees helped their roads remain clear after the snowfall.
Looking forward, “I’m hoping March cooperates with us. … I think we’re in good shape unless we get several more storms, but we’re on the downhill side right now,” Schnell said.
