Massive snow removal effort underway, as another significant snowfall may come Sunday night

Keep those snow shovels handy.

The National Weather Service is discussing the potential for six or more inches of snow from another low pressure system that’s forecast to track across Long Island Sunday night into Monday.

Another winter storm could be troublesome for residents and town highway crews still digging out from snow left by the blizzard earlier this week, which dumped between 16 and 30 inches of snow across the North Fork.

Riverhead Town Highway crews are working to remove plowed back piles of snow from town roads in the wake of that storm. They are using blowers, payloaders and other heavy equipment to fill dump trucks, hauling the snow to the gravel parking area in the northern section of Stotzky Park, Highway Superintendent George Woodson said.

Complicating the cleanup are cars that were left on the streets despite the declaration of a townwide state of emergency. Some of them are still plowed under, while in other locations, large piles of snow jut out into the roadway where parked cars have been dug out. That means plow trucks have to return to a street repeatedly to complete the job.

“That’s why I wanted a state of emergency declared, but it’s got to be enforced,” Woodson said. “It’s a real problem, especially downtown. Second Street was a good example.”

Police Chief David Hegermiller said yesterday he didn’t think officers issued any tickets to cars parked on the streets after the state of emergency was declared. No vehicles were impounded, he said. Police had the authority to ticket and tow cars on the streets during the state of emergency.

“Gio didn’t call us to inform us that there were any parked cars impeding plowing,” Hegermiller said.

The highway superintendent responded that he wasn’t aware he was supposed to call police to let them know. “Isn’t that the whole point of a state of emergency?” Woodson asked.

Many sidewalks throughout the town haven’t been cleared of snow yet either. Under Riverhead town code, property owners are required to keep sidewalks clear of ice and snow.

Route 58 has been a problem, especially since the road, which was restriped as a five-lane highway in 2010, has no shoulders in most places. County snow plows push large piles of snow onto the sidewalks, plowing them in.

“We can’t have people walking in the roadway up there,” Hegermiller said. He has spoken with representatives of company that’s handling the work for many of the shopping centers and was assured it would be taken care of tomorrow, the chief said.

Bus shelters along the county road are also plowed in, so there’s nowhere for people waiting for buses to stand except in the road. “It’s way too dangerous,” the chief said. He is working on getting it resolved, he said. Under an agreement between the town and county when the shelters were built, clearing the shelters is now the town’s responsibility. The chief said he intends to ask Woodson if the highway department could clear the snow out.

Another significant snowfall could worsen the situation. As always, the timing and track of the storm remains uncertain several days ahead of a storm.

Residents can also expect dangerously cold temperatures tonight, according to the NWS. Winds of 15 to 25 mph winds with gusts between 45 and 50 mph will produce wind chills between 0 and 10 degrees for our area tonight, and a wind advisory remains in effect until 4 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. Temperatures tomorrow will peak in the low 20s, the weather service said.

Katie Blasl contributed to this story.

Top photo: Snow removal operations underway on East Main Street this morning. (Photo: Peter Blasl)