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Valentine's Day storm brings more snow |
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Thursday, 15 February 2007 |
 Photo by Kristal Oknefski A Valentine's Day blast coated much of Pennsylvania with a slippery mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. At left, Bill Kinkead plows the parking lot at True Value Hardware. BETHLEHEM (AP) — A Valentine’s Day blast coated much of Pennsylvania with a slippery mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain, stranding hundreds of motorists on a section of Interstate 78 west of Allentown, shutting down thousands of schools and much of state government and leaving restaurant tables vacant.
The wet, weighty conglomeration was blamed for roof collapses at northeastern Pennsylvania sites including a U.S. Army Reserve storage facility in Scranton, the 65-foot-high Playing Fields Sports Dome at Jessup, just northeast of Scranton, and a library outside Wilkes-Barre. No one was hurt at those sites.
Thousands of state workers stayed home, scores of municipalities declared snow emergencies and airlines canceled half the flights at Philadelphia International Airport. There were innumerable traffic accidents — even a refrigerator in the middle of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia — but no immediate reports of fatalities.
On I-78, state police said traffic started backing up Wednesday afternoon when tractor-trailers were unable to make it up a hill. Wreckers were unable to get to some of the vehicles and the snarl worsened, with many irate car and truck drivers stranded through the night along several miles of the highway in Berks and Lehigh counties.
District Judge Gay Elwell, of Easton, got caught in the jam about 1:30 p.m. and was still stranded after 9 p.m. “If it’s still today when I get home, I’ll be pretty happy,” Elwell told The Morning Call in Allentown.
“It’s February, it’s a snowstorm. They had plenty of time to get ready for it,” Elwell said. “It boggles my mind that the traffic is tied up for eight hours and I don’t know why.”
The first major winter storm of 2007 could not have come at a worse time for florists, gift shops, candy stores and other businesses that traditionally ring up big sales on Valentine’s Day.
Arlene Brockel, owner of the Chocolate Lab candy store in Bethlehem, said she awoke Wednesday with “a little bit of a sinking feeling” — but knew she had to open because Valentine’s Day is the biggest candy day of the year. “People have sweethearts and they need chocolates,” said Brockel, who makes her own candy.
Indeed, a steady trickle of customers — all men — braved the elements to pick from a dizzying assortment of chocolate-covered strawberries, pecan turtles, raspberry creams and caramel toffee poofs.
“Nothing can stop me from coming down here on Valentine’s Day,” said Eugene Kozma, 31, a restaurant worker from Bethlehem, clutching a bag of candy he purchased for his co-workers.
In Pittsburgh, downtown parking garages were mostly empty as many motorists opted to stay home instead of traveling on the icy, snowy roadways. Many suburban malls delayed opening until parking lots and sidewalks could be cleared.
Despite the sleet and freezing rain, power companies reported few outages.
“Fortunately, we didn’t get ice buildup on some of the lines and trees that we thought we might get,” said Ryan Hill, spokesman for PPL Corp., which had only 220 customers out of 1.4 million without power Wednesday afternoon.
While the storm was blamed for at least 12 deaths elsewhere, Pennsylvania appeared to be relatively unscathed — although there were some close calls. A teenage boy crashed headfirst into a tree while sledding near Scranton, but officials said he would be OK.
State employees under Gov. Ed Rendell’s jurisdiction in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton were told not to report to work, while those in Reading and Philadelphia were allowed to come in two hours late. Highway workers, state troopers and other essential employees were required to work.
Thousands of the state’s approximately 5,700 schools were closed, including all of Philadelphia’s, and many scheduled delayed openings Thursday.
PennDOT had more than 5,000 workers in 2,200 trucks plowing 40,000 miles of road. The agency closed sections of I-81 and I-380 around Wilkes-Barre and Scranton so crews could plow them.
An agency spokesman, Steve Chizmar, urged motorists to drive slowly and bring an emergency kit with them. “Motorists have simply got to slow down. We’ve got motorists driving like it’s 65 and sunny,” he said.
Runways were clear at Philadelphia International Airport, but half of all flights through mid-afternoon were canceled because of conditions elsewhere, airport spokesman Mark Pesce said. Pittsburgh International Airport operated normally, but reported some delays due to late-arriving planes from other cities.
Amtrak reported delays Wednesday morning along the Northeast corridor between Baltimore and Philadelphia because of signal problems, and numerous Philadelphia commuter rail lines were late. While those trains later got back on schedule, Pittsburgh’s light rail system was shut down Wednesday because of ice on the lines. Despite plunging temperatures in recent weeks, much of Pennsylvania had eluded heavier snowfalls this winter, except for the Erie area’s persistent lake-effect squalls and isolated storms in other parts of northern Pennsylvania.
Merchants who rely on a big Valentine’s Day made the best of it, saying that while business had slowed, last-minute holiday shoppers were still buying — especially over the phone.
At Young’s Florist in downtown Philadelphia, deliveries started two hours early in anticipation of the poor road conditions. At midday, deliveries were on time, with a dozen red roses the most popular bouquet.
“As for walk-in customers, there isn’t that much,” store manager Kelly Porter said.
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Associated Press reporters Dan Nephin, Patrick Walters and Deborah Yao in Philadelphia, Joe Mandak and Jennifer C. Yates in Pittsburgh and Peter Jackson in Harrisburg contributed to this story. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 05 April 2007 )
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