Winder clean-up under way

"The water department is pitching in," said Ken Chalker. "The gas department is pitching in. My building maintenance guys are helping us. So I've got a lot of people working for the city who have volunteered to come and help."

Those crews are manning everything from skid loaders to shovels.

"I've got three skid loaders out, and a back hoe is cleaning side streets," he said. "And I've got my salt tractor doing major hills for emergency vehicles.

"Then I've got our motor grader out scraping subdivisions for emergency vehicles to be able to get in and out too," he said. "I've got crews in town doing sidewalks – shoveling and putting salt down – for the businesses."

Though the clean-up is well under way, Chalker said it would help if local residents remain off the streets until the major undertaking is complete.

"The roads are pretty rough yet," he said. "I recommend that everyone stay at home. It would really help us out in getting everything cleaned up."