Allentown digging out after record snowfall

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (WPVI) -- Residents of Allentown, Pa. were busy digging out Monday after the weekend storm, which delivered the single largest one-day snowfall total in the city's history.

The 31 inches that fell on Saturday are more than the area usually gets in an entire winter.

However, most of the major roads were clear - but the same couldn't be said for the side streets.

Action News found a FedEx truck that had been stuck in the snow at Church and Dixon streets for more than an hour.

That means Ken McDowell, who pulled up behind the truck, was stuck as well.

"Big mess. I came down the wrong street," McDowell said. "I was thinking about leaving my car and walking back home."

Mayor Ed Pawlowski says he has every piece of snow removing equipment running around the clock across the city, and he could still use some more.

"I'm going to ask if there's any contractors out there who want to work with the city and either lease us some equipment or donate some equipment for the snow removal operations. We need front loaders and we need dump trucks," he said.

Removing those 31 inches of snow is going to take time.

The snow on some roads like S. 3rd St. remain untouched.

Robert Colon says it took him all day just to shovel a path from his driveway down to 3rd St. just to get his car out.

"It's really frustrating. My wife too, we need to go out. My daughter left and she is stuck at a friend's house. There's no school today so we told her to sleep over because there's no way to get her or anything," Colon said.

Allentown schools will remain closed Tuesday, and the city will begin towing cars parked on city streets Monday night so the plows can finish the job.

Mayor Pawlowski says the city is doing its best under very trying conditions.

"Our crews have worked and will continue to work long hours and I understand your frustration. I get it, I know there's a number of streets still unplowed. But I can't stress enough that it's going to take some time to get back to normal," he said.

City parking remains free to encourage residents to move their cars so crews can do their job.