Snowstorm surprises area

BY STACI WILSON

This winter’s biggest storm hit the county Monday dumping rain, ice and nearly two feet of heavy snow across parts of the region.

But the storm’s early turn from rain to snow may have thwarted a flood event in the county, said Susquehanna County Emergency Management Operations and Training Officer Scott Aylesworth.

“We were right on the edge of any type of flood event for the river,” Aylesworth said, “but we would have probably seen more small stream flooding.”

According to the National Weather Service, Binghamton, N.Y., snow totals reached over 17 inches in parts of Susquehanna County by noon on Monday.

State police at Gibson reported numerous crashes throughout the area due to the road, with I-81 closing for a period of time Sunday evening due to a tractor trailer accident.

PennDOT District 4 spokesman James May said the combination of rain and ice followed by heavy snows caused some minor snow removal issues for the state agency.

May said the snow caused seven plow trucks to suffer temporary issues due to the snow that required they be brought back into shop for minor mechanical repairs on Monday.

“The bottom line is that with all the snow we received, the roads are now clear,” said May.

Schools across the area cancelled classes for the day. Blue Ridge Superintendent noted at the March 7 school board meeting that the cancellation moves the last day of classes to June 10.

McTiernan said that if necessary, an in-service day could be used as a make-up day, plus vacation time scheduled around Easter may also be used if necessary.

A tree on a power line caused over 100 Hallstead area residents to lose power Monday, said Jodi Place of Penelec.

Place said the outage affected homes in the New York Ave., Dubois and Fourth street area and occurred at about 5:15 p.m. Power was restored by 6:45 p.m.

Clavarack’s Jeff Fetzer said there were only a few isolated outages reported in connection with the storm in the company’s service area in Susquehanna County.

Other government bodies also issued cancellations on Monday.

Jury selection for the Court of Common Pleas, slated for Monday morning, was cancelled for the month of March. Pending trials will be rescheduled, said Court Administrator Cathy Hawley.

Montrose Borough Council opted to cancel its regular business meeting. Council is scheduled to meet Monday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the conference room at the borough building on Cherry St.