Winter Storm Dig-Out Begins In Hard-Hit Westchester County; State Of Emergency Still In Effect
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Westchester County is under a state of emergency that will last all the way until Thursday.
That's because of all the digging out that's needed, after Monday's storm dropped an impressive amount of snow on the area, CBS2's Natalie Duddridge reported.
Store owners in downtown Mount Vernon were in the process of cleaning up Tuesday from the nearly 2 feet of snow they got hit with. Their hope is to get their shops back open soon.
LISTEN: Westchester County Executive George Latimer On State Of Emergency
The storm created more hard work for a lot of the adults, but a lot of kids were having a blast, especially the ones who got to skip another day of school.
"Our principal said when it snows snow days are for making cookies, playing in the snow, drinking hot chocolate and watching movies," a little girl named Kara said.
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Kara and her brother, Liam, were pumped to have a second official snow day in a row, while some of their friends in other school districts had to go back to remote learning Tuesday.
"We slide down the hill. We make paths," Liam said.
So, naturally, Duddridge had to join them.
Duddridge saw one man appear to be having as much fun snow-blowing, with his winter style -- blizzard-chic on the top, beach on the bottom.
He and his neighbors in Larchmont were digging out of 21.5 inches of snow.
"I think a lot of municipalities, I don't think they are staffed as well as they could be, but everyone is doing the best they can with what they have," Henry Oswald said.
That's why one good Samaritan got up at 4 a.m. to help people on his block.
"I try to help the neighbors, the elderly people, because you know they can't [shovel]. This is heavy snow. This is brutal," the man said.
PHOTOS: Powerful Winter Storm Dumps Snow Across Tri-State Area
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It really was brutal. On Monday night, police reported more than 50 people stranded on roadways in Westchester who had to be rescued. However, conditions were much improved on Tuesday morning.
Officials said the area was lucky because there were no major power outages or trees down.
"We are resilient people, all of us New Yorkers, Westchester people, and we are digging out today. The situation is a lot better today than it was yesterday," County Executive George Latimer said. "We pretty much expect to be back in business mid to late day in most things."
Mount Vernon's mayor is asking residents to limit travel and to try to not park on thew streets so crews can remove snow.
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