Snow falls on snow
By Danielle Abbott
Last week, after dealing with an estimated 80 inches of snow in some areas of the county, the McLean County Board of Commissioners became one of the five counties and one city to officially declare a state of snow emergency. "Declaring a snow emergency is typically done when you have exhausted most, if not all of your resources to combat snow removal," McLean County Emergency Coordinator Todd Schreiner said. Other counties that have declared the snow emergency include McHenry, Pierce, Sheridan, Mercer and the city of Lincoln. "The declaration itself is nothing," Schreiner said, "It can only open up operation plans and emergency funds if any are available." The declaration was sent to the state level, to see if there was any assistance and service that could be given to the counties in need. The assistance that is given is based upon the amount of snow and damage that has been done in the particular area. To be considered a disaster area, there must be $1 million worth of damage. "Snow doesn’t cause $1 million of damage, unless it takes down power lines and infrastructure," Schreiner said.
