(Host) Vermont’s Agency of Transportation continued to clean up Tuesday from the storm that dumped two-plus feet of snow in the Northern part of the state on Monday. In the South, rivers flooded and culverts jammed up with ice, sending icy water up and over the roads.
Even though the AOT was working at full speed, crews had a hard time keeping up with the weather. And in many towns and cities, municipal plows didn’t make it to side streets and dirt roads until after dark on Monday night.
Sue Minter is Deputy Secretary of Transportation. She says there were a number of factors that made Monday’s storm "epic" – beginning with the hard rain that fell over the weekend, which then turned to sheets of ice under the falling snow. Another big challenge was the wind:
(Minter) "So we had heavy snow coming down, mixed with wind – and at times we’d be plowing a route and the wind would blow it right in behind us. And of course the visibility made for very hazardous conditions."
(Host) Minter says one of the biggest problems in clearing roads was that plows were getting blocked by vehicles that had gotten stuck in snow. The interstate was closed several times yesterday because tractor trailers, coach buses and other vehicles were stuck and blocking the roadway.