All of our winter came at once; it just took a few days:
Ten inches Wednesday, two or three feet Thursday, three more Friday, and another inch or two every time it wasn’t really snowing.
“It was a really big storm for us,” Schoharie County Emergency Management’s Judy Warner said Monday, catching her breath after a pair of storms held much of the Northeast hostage for five days.
At the peak of the storm, some 4,000 people were without power, the Town of Wright had declared a state of emergency, and roofs on at least a half-dozen buildings had collapsed.
But for all of that, Ms. Warner said, the county made it through sick of snow, but in relatively good shape.
“I know it was a long haul for DPW,” she said. “The first night, they had split crews and we ended up putting cots and blankets out for them in my office. “Those guys just kept going.”
Tom Fagnani, DPW commissioner, said by “just continuing on and on and on,” his crews managed to keep up with the storms.
All county roads “were kept open at all times,” he added. “There were no closures. But it’s a good thing there was no wind, so we didn’t have any drifting.”
Mr. Fagnani said towns near Schoharie got three feet of snow with the higher elevations—Blenheim and Jefferson—getting more.
“Over in the Berne-Knox area, they got six feet. That’s just insane,” he added.
Monday, DPW crews were still cleaning up—and keeping their fingers crossed.
“It looks like the weather will be okay for us this week,” Mr. Fagnani said. “Our guys will try to get rested up and hope there aren’t any more storms.”
Ms. Warner said she, too, is keeping one eye on the weather—and another on the Schoharie Creek for when it all starts melting.
“Hunter Mountain, they got seven feet—and that’s where our water comes from,” she said. “There’s a lot of water in this snow and whether or not that causes problems will depend on how fast it all melts.”
Schoharie County Sheriff Tony Desmond said his snowmobile squad was out during the storms, helping rescue squads that needed to reach homes.
Collapsed buildings seemed to be the major problem, he said, especially, Ms. Warner added, on Clauverwie Road in Fulton, where three roofs came down—including one on the trailer home of the George Coons family.
“The roof came down on the bedroom and the firemen didn’t feel it was safe for them to return,” Ms. Warner said.
The Red Cross was putting up the family at the Holiday Inn Express in Schoharie, she said.
Most of the other fallen roofs were on outbuildings, but heavy snow brought down the roof on the Dan France freestall dairy barn in Seward.
No one and no animals were injured.
Ms. Warner said the county issued a travel advisory Friday morning, trusting people would use common sense.
But because no state of emergency was declared, Earl VanWormer, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said there will be no FEMA reimbursement.
Mr. VanWormer said he’s still assessing the storm’s cost to the county.
The weather meant local schools—most of whom used just one or two snow days before Wednesday—depleted their banks with three days of delays, early closing, and no school.
It also forced the rescheduling—and re-rescheduling—of all but one first-round Sectional basketball game.
In a game originally slated for Tuesday, then rescheduled for Thursday, again for Saturday, and finally played Sunday, the Sharon Springs boys defeated Whitehall to advance.
As the crowd filed out of the gym, it was snowing again, prompting one group of students to suggest Monday could be yet another snow day.
“Don’t count on it,” said one teacher who overheard. “We’re going to be here no matter what.”