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Slushy snow challenges Elmwood Park shovelers
Mia Lockwood, 6, plays in the snow onTuesday, Feb. 26 on the 2300 block of North 75th Court in Elmwood Park.. | Rob Hart~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 4, 2013 5:17PM
ELMWOOD PARK — The snow that threatened to blanket the county hit local villages with snow, that quickly turned to heavy slush.
Karen Puceillo, who lives on the 2000 block of 76th Avenue, wrestled with her heavy snowblower Wednesday morning to clear the snow from the sidewalk.
Progress was slow.
“I hate it,” she said. “It’s a lot of work.”
Steve Ellison, who lives a few blocks north on 76th Avenue in the village, was removing the snow the old fashioned way. He said the snow was heavy so it needed to be shoveled away.
“If it (snow) freezes we’re in big trouble,” he said.
He believes living in the Chicago area, snow just comes with the territory.
“I’ve been in Chicago 20 years and you can complain about it all you want, but it’s Chicago in the winter time,” he said. “Last year we didn’t have any snow.”
Dino Braglia, director of the Elmwood Park Public Works Department, said the plow trucks hit the street Tuesday afternoon, but they didn’t have to do do much plowing. “We had so much salt down everything was slushy,” he said.
He said the weather was just warm enough for the snow to turn to slush and combined with the salt they had been spreading throughout the village, the snow either turned to slush or water.
Braglia said Wednesday afternoon that they would continue to monitor the weather, salt the roads and clear the slush and snow from village parking spaces, cul de sacs and curbs.
Jose Rey, 50, who lives on 2100 block of 76th Avenue, was out being a good neighbor Wednesday, clearing the snow not only in front of his house but in front of his neighbors’ homes as well. His snowblower wasn’t working as fast as he’d like.
“The snowblower gets clogged with wet snow and dies out,” he said. “It takes longer to get done.”
He said he doesn’t mind the snow; he just minds the work it creates.
“The snow is beautiful when it is white,” he said.
