Communities along US 2, Stevens Pass digging out after winter storm

Communities along U.S. 2 and Stevens Pass are in winter storm recovery mode.

"Snow is unpredictable, it’s not all light and fluffy," said Louise Lindgren who was shoveling her driveway in Index. "I mean, you had to smack it like 12 times. It was like trying to break up somebody’s hard packed snow ball."

The Maintenance Superintendent of Index estimated about two feet of snow buried their small town. 

"Yeah, we’ve been busy, everybody. This little community-driven, everybody’s, working to get through storms like that. We don’t see storms like that all the time," said Sean Horst, Maintenance Superintendent of Index. "Whatever Mother Nature gives us is what we’re dealing with at the moment."

RELATED: 36" of snow in 24 hours: Leavenworth declares state of emergency due to record snowfall

WSDOT is continuing to work on Stevens Pass, which will likely not reopen before Wednesday, according to its latest blog post:

While we’ve been able to clear the east side of Stevens Pass of snow and avalanche concerns, there is still ice that is 4-inches thick on the roadway that must be removed. On the west side of the pass there are snow slides 60-70 feet high and 100-200 feet wide along with more avalanche concerns that must be addressed before we can clear the highway.

On the other side of U.S. 2, the City of Leavenworth is in a state of emergency, which was declared on Friday.

The Mayor showed us the view from his front door via Zoom, which had snow standing higher than his front porch which is four feet off the ground.

About 2,000 people live in the city. The Mayor said public works crews can handle between eight and ten inches of snow, but this amount of snowfall in one storm is unprecedented.

"This has definitely been the most challenging, one day dump on us in our history," said Mayor Carl Florea. "The health and safety of this community is foremost and that’s what’s behind this declaration and getting that added manpower."

Mayor Florea said the emergency declaration allows the city to hire independent contractors immediately without a formal bidding process which is essential to reopen streets and have added resources in snow removal.

RELATED: Snoqualmie, Blewett passes reopen; Stevens, White passes remain closed

About 20 to 25 members of the National Guard are set to arrive in Leavenworth on Monday.

"They help with the personnel to go door-to-door to do welfare checks and to be able to get food delivered to our seniors. We have quite a few seniors who, basically, this makes them homebound," said Mayor Florea. 

A State Public Affairs Officer with the Washington National Guard told FOX 13 News in an email, "The Guardsmen will be coming from the Chelan county area, we have an armory in Wenatchee and will most likely use the vehicles they have at the armory. Currently, they are scheduled to begin support on Monday afternoon, and will be providing Health and Wellness checks and food distribution in the Leavenworth area."

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