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Residents Shovel, City Plows To Keep Up With Snowfall

CHICAGO (CBS) – The snow started falling Saturday afternoon and many homeowners have been shoveling, trying to keep the snow from piling up.

Crews throughout the city and suburbs are also working on clearing the snow.

CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot was in Irving Park on Saturday night, where things were looking messy.

Lifelong Chicagoan, Robert Becker knows all about tackling the snow, as soon as it starts to fall.

"I hear we are going to get a lot of it, so I am staying ahead of the snow," Becker said. "Maybe I'll come back out and shovel before I got to bed."

Becker shovels the snow in front of his father's Westchester home.

"I try to get out here a little earlier, so it doesn't accumulate too much," Becker said. "So I can handle the snow."

Area expressways will be cleared of snow, by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

In Villa Park, crews fill snow plows with salt.

"It's a great time to change those driving behaviors," said Gianna Urgo, IDOT. "That means make it a habit to allow some extra time in your schedule for trips, because it will take longer than usual."

300 IDOT snow plows will clear and salt more than 9,000 miles of roadways.

- Illinois Tollway Mobilizes Fleet Of Snowplows For Recent Snowfall

"Later tomorrow (Sunday) morning, when the bulk of the storm is set to calm down, we will upgrade that number to 350 trucks," Urgo said. "That is a full force response for IDOT."

As the temperature plummets and the snow falls, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city is prepared to help those in need.

- City Warns Of 'Extreme' Temperatures, Snow For This Weekend

"If you have a neighbor who is a senior, or someone who has any health issues, I want this to be a weekend like it is every weekend, but also during the week, you are going to be a good neighbor,"
Emanuel said. "Check on them, if there are any issues, call 311."

The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation is also monitoring the storm system that's expected to blanket the city with several inches of snow.

- Chicago's Full Fleet Of Snow Plows Are Working To Clear Streets

"With this snow event, and every snow event, the department first focus is on snow clearing efforts on Lake Shore Drive and main arterial streets," said Commissioner Charles L. Williams, Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation.

And when it comes to the sidewalks in the city, everyone has to do their part to clear those too. It is city law.

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