Bull Valley Digs Out From 13 Inches Of Snow
CHICAGO (CBS)—The northwest suburban community of Bull Valley had the heaviest snowfall totals by the end of the winter storm that blew through the Chicago area Sunday night into Monday.
The Village of Bull Valley in McHenry County logged 13.1 inches of snow in about 16 hours and 30 minutes, according to the town's public works department.
The snow cleanup was a burden for the village's public works department, as crews started working at 1 p.m. Sunday and continued clearing snow and salting the roads into Monday morning.
The Village used 85 tons of salt and 400 gallons of brine mixture to clear 28 miles of the roadway, according to Mike Koch, the road supervisor for the Village of Bull Valley Public Works Department.
Koch and a crew of four workers put in overtime to make sure the roads were safe for the 1,100 people who live in the town.
"You should have been here at 8 p.m. last night, driving down these roads," Koch said.
Homeowner Jim Eckel started clearing his driveway and the paths around his house at 9 a.m.
"The way that it fell, first it was rain, then it was sleet, then it turned to snow, so it was very heavy--very packed," Eckel said.
Thanks to the kindness of volunteer veterans like Ryan Bentele, horses at "Operation Wild Horse" were able to get out of their barns and enjoy some hay Monday afternoon.
"Very heavy and wet snow," Bentele said. "The ground's not frozen, so you sink in. Either it's mud or soft dirt."
Operation Wild Horse uses horses to help veterans cope with PTSD.
"When we get this much snow, it's near impossible to get everything done that we can normally get done in a day with taking care of just moving the horses through this much snow and taking care of everything inside," said Patti Gruber, program director at Operation Wild Horse. "It's just hugely monumental for us to have to do this."
With the snow now out of the area and colder temperatures moving in, Koch said crews are now keeping an eye out for snow drifts blowing across the road.
