Town and state cope with copius amounts of white, flaky powder

Vern King of CBC, Inc. plows the sidewalk near the corner of Griswold and Main Streets on Jan. 27.

GLASTONBURY - Last week’s “insult to injury” snowstorm kept plows – municipal and contractors – busy around the clock.
By noon on Thursday, Manny Contos and his crew from CBC, Inc., said they had already been working since 4 a.m. and had so many jobs to catch up to, they couldn’t guess at what time their workday would end.
Likewise, Glastonbury town trucks worked around the clock.
“It’s obviously very challenging for our crews,” said Town Manager Richard Johnson on Thursday. “They didn’t go home yesterday. They were on the road all last night and all day today, with a minimum of breaks. They’re doing a really good job, but it’s difficult.”
With most of the town’s roads cleared by midday Thursday, the focus was switching to individual resident concerns.
Civil Preparedness Director Bob Dibella said there were no major incidents with this storm, but the fire department did respond to one residence where a garage had partially collapsed due to snow that had accumulated on the roof.
Johnson said Glastonbury is a particular challenge, with more than 200 miles of roadways and many hills.
The town’s budget for snow removal is already being strained. Johnson said the overtime for the town’s highway department is already at about 15 percent over-budget.
“This is the earliest in a winter I can remember being in that situation,” he said, adding that typically, funds from other accounts that have realized savings or the undesignated fund balance, are transferred to make up the costs.