Rochester wakes up to a foot of snow

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Thursday’s Red Alert storm left parts of the Greater Rochester area covered with more than a foot of snow, making for a particularly busy Friday morning for plow drivers.

With hundreds of schools and businesses closed because of the weather Friday, there were more plows and salt trucks on the roads than there were cars in the early morning hours.

News10NBC’s Emily Putnam was monitoring road conditions in the First Alert Storm Patrol car. She caught up with plow driver Jacob Bunce between stops on his route.

“It just keeps coming down, so we’re just trying to get ahead of it for our people,” said Bunce. "We got apartment buildings, you know, keep people happy, have them go to work, try to get there on time today… all the kids are out of school so that’s okay, but the people still need to go to work."

Kelly Zodl is one of those people. If shoveling snow were an Olympic event, Zodl would probably take gold. She was up early doing an all-too-familiar task: digging out the driveway… again.

"When I got home last night I shoveled, but you can’t tell,” said Zodl.

She’s an essential worker who was scheduled to report to work at Strong Hospital at 8am Friday. When she saw the mound of snow at the end of her driveway, she got in touch with her boss just in case.

"About, I don’t know, 5:30 I texted her, I was like hey… I’m going to be late because I have to shovel, so, we’ll see what time I actually get in,” said Zodl. "Just hoping someone with a plow stops and helps me, but when the plows come by, they fill it all back in."

As Rochesterians know… what comes down must go somewhere.

Emily Putnam: “What’s your response when people talk about plows piling up snow at the ends of driveways or sidewalks?”
Jacob Bunce: "Everybody’s doing the best they can. The city’s doing the best they can, we’re doing the best we can, everybody just has to work together. A lot of cars get stuck on the side of the road… if you have time, stop, help them shovel out, but everybody’s just doing the best they can."

If you have questions about snow removal in the City of Rochester, you can call 311 or visit the city’s website by clicking here.