What's Gone Wrong With Town Plowing

Huntington Patch asked the Huntington Highway Department about how things were going with the town's snow removal efforts and in particular, the noticeable absence of plows.

Here is the response from superintendent William Naughton.

"We have just experienced the worst possible scenario with regard to a winter storm. On Friday it started off raining and quickly changed over to a record 29 inch snowfall. Because of the rain all roads ended up with a thick layer of ice under the snow.

Our primary method of snow removal has always been using local contractors in small 6 wheel dump trucks or pickup trucks. These trucks have had a very hard time plowing the snow because it is heavy and there is a layer of ice under it. The trucks lose traction and are getting stuck. Because of their frustration with getting stuck and damage to equipment many of them have left service.

Due to the ice our own equipment has become stuck and some of it has been damaged. Yesterday (Saturday) we reached out to Supervisor Petrone and State and County Emergency Management officials to request heavy equipment like payloaders, 10 wheel dump trucks, backhoes etc. Some of these requests are starting to be filled. We would like to thank these agencies for helping us out in this trying time.

We are operating today with 100 less contractor pieces of equipment than we had yesterday but please be assured that we will not stop until every road is open to traffic.

We appreciate your patience!"

Note: Michael Naughton e-mailed this for his father.