The Snowstorm Of The Century It Wasn’t
Grafton Highway Was Up to the Task
By Doug La Rocque
All day Saturday, January 19, and into Sunday morning, the local television media was predicting up to 20 inches of snow for all areas of the Capital District, including Eastern Rensselaer County. Many stations had all their meteorologists either double-teaming in studio or out reporting on snowfall. To the hearty people of the eastern portion of the county, who have seen a winter storm or two, armageddon it wasn’t. Ole Man Winter did deposit between 10 and 12 inches of snow in most areas, mixed in with some sleet and freezing rain, but none of the area’s highway crews had any real problems dealing with it, including the troubled Town of Grafton Highway Department.
Volunteers Made The Difference
Going into the storm, the Grafton department was down to one full time person, and some part-time employees. Highway Superintendent Herb Hasbrouck said at that point he put out a call for help, and several experienced truck drivers and heavy equipment operators answered that call. The result was Grafton’s roads, according to in-person and Facebook reports, were in the best shape they had been all winter. Often criticized of late, on both social media and in person at Town Board meetings, Facebook postings lit up Sunday with almost nothing but praise for what the department and volunteers had accomplished.
Superintendent Hasbrouck wished to express his thanks to those volunteers and his own personnel for a job well done. Speaking with The Eastwick Press, Town Supervisor Ingrid Gundrum said “even though this is Grafton and knowing how to handle pretty much anything Mother Nature throws at us in our DNA, the predictions for Winter Storm Harper were intense. I commend Herb for how he was able to pull together a solid group of men who worked together like clockwork with our crew of Herb, Jim and Carlos to get the roads cleared and safe for Grafton residents. It was a long day for all, but at the end of the day the job was done and Grafton was better for it.”
Petersburgh was also a bit shorthanded, with Highway Superintendent Ray Harrison out of action while he is recuperating from heart surgery, and the crew being all fairly recent hires. But the comments at the Petersburgh Town Board meeting on Monday, January 21 were all positive. Those present seemed to feel that the highway crew had risen to the occasion.
The backside of the storm did bring below-zero temperatures and high winds that created dangerously low wind chills. Once again, all area road crews were able to handle the drifting, though local fuel companies did report at number of calls for furnace repairs.