Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor on Monday declared a state of emergency as the city struggles to clear its streets of roughly a foot of snow with dozens of snowplows out of commission.
That emergency declaration allows the city to call in private contractors to augment the city’s workforce in treating roads that remain blanketed in a thick layer of snow after a massive snowstorm struck Sunday.
The mayor did not immediately say how many additional plows will be deployed as part of the effort.
“Safety’s a priority,” O’Connor said during a press conference Downtown from the City-County Building. “That’s the reason we’re doing this. This is about the safety of the residents of the city of Pittsburgh.”
O’Connor said the city’s crews were working around-the-clock and “doing their very best” — but when 37 trucks broke down overnight, officials had no choice but to call in reinforcements.
“We were doing a very good job until we lost a lot of our equipment,” he said.
The city started the storm with 95 plows and salt trucks on hand, the mayor said. The city’s maintenance garage is staying open 24 hours a day to work on getting the trucks that are currently out of service back on the roads.
Molly Onufer, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said trucks suffered “general wear and tear” and needed plow blades replaced after being on the road for 36 hours.
City officials have frequently raised concerns about the state of the aging vehicle fleet, which is prone to breakdowns that often require costly repairs.
The outside contractors the mayor is calling on for assistance won’t just plow the roads. They’ll also be hauling snow out of neighborhoods and business districts.
Onufer said the city will be hiring contractors from a list of prequalified businesses. They will bring plows and additional equipment, like front loaders, bobcats and skid steerers, she said.
“We understand streets haven’t been touched, and we’re getting to them,” O’Connor said. “But we just ask everyone to be patient.”
O’Connor said he could offer “no time frame” for when all roads would be passable.
Allegheny County impact
Allegheny County has seen 26 disaster declarations pertaining to the storm, Emergency Services Chief Matthew Brown said, spurred by salt shortages, staffing struggles or plowing problems.
Brown reported “no major surges of 911 calls” during the storm.
“It appears most people are heeding the warning of staying off the roads, staying home,” he told reporters during a virtual press briefing Monday morning.
The county has deployed 26 plows to remove snow from 357 miles of county-maintained roads, Public Works Director Stephen Shanley said. No major crashes were reported on county roads, he said.
Brown urged people to continue to avoid driving if possible. Brown also encouraged people to check on neighbors and be cognizant of the weather when shoveling snow in frigid temperatures. Exposed skin could be susceptible to frostbite in less than 30 minutes, he cautioned.
Setting a record
Pittsburgh set a daily snowfall record for Jan. 25 with 11.2 inches of snow falling Sunday, National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Craven said Monday. The prior record for that date, set in 2014, was 5.2 inches.
The storm is tied for the 13th highest amount of snow to pummel Pittsburgh in 24 hours, based on records dating to the 1800s, he said.
“The last time we had this much snow in 24 hours was Snowmageddon in 2010,” Craven said. “It’s been 16 years.”
Throughout the Pittsburgh region, snowfall totals ranged from 8 inches to 15 inches, he said, with higher amounts reported in the ridges.
People may see a little more snow Monday and in the coming days, but Craven said that won’t amount to more than “light dustings” with half an inch of accumulation or less.
Closures and cancellations
Many local school districts — including Pittsburgh Public Schools — called a snow day Monday.
Pittsburgh Regional Transit announced ACCESS paratransit trips were canceled Monday.
Allegheny County closed its administrative offices, the Court of Common Pleas, magisterial district courts and Pittsburgh Municipal Court. In Westmoreland County, Greensburg’s courthouse also is shuttered.
Temperatures are expected to plummet in the coming days, with no highs in the forecast warm enough to melt snow.
Wind chills could drop to 15 to 25 degrees below zero, Craven said.
The National Weather Service issued an extreme cold warning from 7 p.m. Monday through 11 a.m. Tuesday with predictions that actual air temperature will drop to 3 degrees below zero overnight.
The high temperatures throughout the week are expected to sit in the teens.
“I wouldn’t venture a guess to when we get above freezing next,” Craven told TribLive. “Sunday, we might crack 20.”
Pittsburgh has opened warming shelters at Beechview, Greenfield and Sheraden senior centers and South Side Market House.
18-hour shifts
Johan Ebbit, 24, of Madison, a tiny Westmoreland County borough southwest of Greensburg, has had quite a weekend.
A member of the North Huntingdon road crew for the last 18 months, Ebbitt and 16 other plow operators have been working to clear roads nearly around-the-clock in Westmoreland County’s second largest municipality since late Saturday as more than a foot of snow pounded the region.
“We just kept going. Every place we did a road then came back later and it looked like we were never there,” Ebbitt said.
Ebbitt’s route focuses on township roads and housing plans south of Route 30. It’s his second winter on the crew, and this storm is the biggest he’s seen so far.
He and his coworkers were working 18-hour shifts with breaks. Early sweeps on the roads were focused on making the roads passable. By Monday morning, the plan was to clear out as much snow as possible to make travel a bit easier.
“If we’re just dropping salt, it takes about three hours to run a route. If we’re plowing, it’s about six hours,” Ebbitt said.
His Monday morning route figured to take a bit longer.
A pin that connected a plow to his truck broke off and forced him to sit idle for about 30 minutes to wait for a mechanic to install new hardware.
“It’s not too bad out here. We try to stay ahead of it if we can and take breaks when we can,” Ebbitt said.
Delmont Public Works Chief Bill Heaps said all of the municipality’s roads were open as of Monday morning.
“It’s a matter of getting some salt on them and then we’ll be in pretty good shape,” he said.
TribLive staff writers Patrick Varine and Megan Trotter contributed to this report.