Public Works Departments Race To Clear Slush Before Temps Drop

EDINA, Minn. (WCCO) -- Bob Landrud knows today's slush is tomorrow's ice.

"I just retired about a year and a half ago, so now that I have time to (shovel and scrape), I actually kind of enjoy it," Landrud said.

He spent Thursday afternoon scraping and shoveling, trying to get ahead of Friday's anticipated cold snap.

"The problem is the gutters are all getting frozen up. It's a skating rink out there," said Landrud.

His concerns are shared by public works departments across the metro.

In many cities, crews are working 12-hour shifts, focusing on clearing slush and standing water.

"We are proactively checking areas where we know we have some flooding conditions. We go out, we know we've got problems there, we clear it right away," said Robin Hutcheson, Minneapolis Public Works Director.

In St. Louis Park, plow drivers will be out again on Thursday and early Friday morning to clear more of the slush off the streets.

The focus on Friday will be dealing with icy conditions, especially on side streets and alleys.

If the water freezes on city streets, there could be drainage issues for the rest of the winter.

This rain is posing problems for more than just gutters.

On any given winter day, Buck Hill in Burnsville is packed with skiers and snowboarders. On Thursday, however, the runs were completely empty and the lights were off. All operations shut down at the ski area.

You can blame it on the rain. As the snow gets wetter, the runs get more dangerous.

Things are expected to be back to normal on Friday.