The few inches of snow that fell early Thursday proved to be a large problem for many working in the metro.
While many kids in Kansas City, Missouri were out of school for the day, others were doing what they could to make the area safe.
The Independence Avenue CID Ambassadors were out shoveling snow all day, beginning at 8 a.m.
Team leader Brett Shoffner told 41 Action News his crew had a goal of shoveling more than 3 miles worth of sidewalk along Independence Avenue before sundown. It was a tough task with just eight workers, but one that needed to be done because of the way the snow packed onto sidewalks, making snow blowers obsolete.
"Once we get a lot of traffic on the pedestrian areas it makes it pretty difficult. It was nice, fluffy powder this morning. But after a couple of hours of people walking over it, going to the bus stop, going to the grocery store, it gets pretty packed down and hard to chip at," said Shoffner.
Meanwhile, those driving tow trucks in the metro were certainly overwhelmed as well.
Joe Brown operates J's Southland Tow. He said it's been a long time since he's seen so many cars in ditches in Kansas City.
"I've seen them in cables. I've seen them in the ditches. I've seen them hit each other.... run off the roads. Sliding off the roads. I've been up since about 1:30 this morning," Brown said.
When asked how many cars he’s towed, Brown said, "I'm on my seventh one right now for the day.”
Brown added that drivers should be very careful while on on and off ramps to the interstate, saying he sees more cars slide off those ramps than anywhere else, and that that danger will continue through the night as some snow continues to blow across lanes.
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com
