ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Two days ago, Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a local state of emergency for Delta County. County and city crews are now making progress on blizzard recovery efforts, but there is still a long way to go.
“I’ve been a resident of the U.P. for probably 30-plus years now, and this is the wildest storm I’ve been involved in,” said Delta County Emergency Management Coordinator Paul Geyer. “Especially for Delta County, we’re used to the not-so-heavy snowfalls compared to Keweenaw and Houghton and some of those northern counties, but this one has definitely been a historic storm for us.”
According to Geyer, departments have been working nearly around the clock to clear as many roads as possible as quickly as possible. However, at its worst, the blizzard forced officials to make tough decisions.
“There were some times that the Road Commission and other public works departments had to pull their units off the road,” Geyer said. “I know that’s frustrating for people, but it simply came down to safety. There was zero visibility conditions. I heard two cases of where they hit drifts and their trucks were completely turned sideways on some of the roads. Since conditions improved, they’ve been out there nonstop.”
The extreme amount of snow that accumulated is what led the County to reach out to the State, as well as neighboring agencies, for support.
“One of the needs that Delta County had was a couple of big, industrial-sized snowblowers that we could attach to front-end loaders,” said Geyer. “Other counties in the U.P. were feeling that they could get through with the equipment that they had, and they are set up a little bit better in some cases. In fact, one of the blowers that we’re using today is from Chippewa County. Many thanks to them, the Road Commission Association, and MDOT for helping us with that.”
Geyer says officials understand that many people living in more rural parts of the county are still awaiting help.
“Some of that help might be more private in nature, like they’re having problems getting from their residence out to a road that’s plowed,” he said. “The Road Commission really can’t go off of County roads to help with somebody’s private property, but we certainly can try to help them by getting them in touch with private contractors. We ask that they contact our Central Dispatch agency and give them their information. “
The state of those rural roads, as well as the time it takes to reduce large snow banks, are big factors in why several school districts still have not been able to return to the classroom.
“They probably could’ve been open today or maybe even yesterday, but the rest of the County roads just were not safe for school bus access, dropping and picking up kids, and just the width of the roads that we had at the time,” Geyer explained. “[Crews] are getting through it as best they can. They’re working hard, but they need some break between those shifts too.”
The roads are slowly but surely being cleared. While citizens shovel their driveways and wait for plowing to finish, Delta County Emergency Management asks them to have patience.
“The longer this goes on, I know that’s harder and harder, especially when we have sunny skies now,” said Geyer. “When you talk about 900 and some miles of primary and secondary roads in the county, that is a lot of real estate to cover. Obviously, the Road Commission has to focus on those areas where the most traffic is and the roads that are most utilized. I know it’s frustrating for those people that live way out there in areas that their road isn’t used much, except by them. It makes it tough.”
For updates on local blizzard recovery efforts, follow the Delta County Emergency Management Facebook page.
