Spearfish city officials say the town was hit hard by wind and heavy snow from the storm that swept across the Black Hills last weekend. Now that the snow storm has passed residents are kicking clean-up efforts into high gear.
Winter came in with a bang and dumped more than three feet of snow in some parts of the Northern Hills. City officials say although there was relatively little structural damage in Spearfish – the town’s trees experienced significant damage. Many trees snapped at the trunk while others had branches break off from the weight of the snow.
Cheryl Johnson is the Spearfish Public Works Director and oversees the city’s two tree disposal sites.
“We have areas in the city that was dealing with forty inches of snow and we went right from that mode on Sunday night into Monday morning setting up these sites. We had a lot of our roads blocked by the tree limbs and the trees themselves, so we really had to make a great effort in that first forty-eight hours to get those removed as well,” says Johnson.
The storm left the town of Spearfish nearly immobilized for days - but now almost a week later residents are digging out and dealing with the aftermath.
Many main roads and residential streets are still lined with downed trees and there is still a significant amount of snow on the ground.
Public Works Director Johnson says the clean-up is a community-wide effort and it will take months to recover from the storm.
“We are utilizing all City staff from all departments – I don’t have a department that’s not out here participating somehow,” says Johnson.
Johnson says the City has waived all tree-disposal fees and residents from the surrounding communities can bring trees and branches to either of the Spearfish sites.
“And then we’re really going to need the volunteerism and the cooperation of our citizens. I can’t emphasize enough how important it’s going to be for our citizens to help themselves and then help their neighbors,” says Johnson.
Johnson says ash, poplar and cottonwood trees fared the worst. She says as the snow melts she expects more reports of damages. Johnson says the tree disposal sites are open every day from 8:00 to 6:00 as long as they are needed.
Spearfish tree disposal sites have been set up on St. Joe in the Black Hills State University overflow parking lot and on South Canyon Road.