WILKES-BARRE -- In the Wilkes-Barre area, the problem is there are not enough trucks to haul away the snow cleared from the city streets.
A four-foot high drift over Brogan Street in the Miners Mills section of Wilkes-Barre blocks traffic. A block south on Cleveland finds the road covered by just a bit less snow.
A longtime homeowner gave the city's snow removal efforts this grade.
"B minus," said Dorothy Middaugh who has lived in this neighborhood for 65 years.
She says the storm dumped too much snow in too short a time for people to demand more passable streets from city crews.
"They're doing the best they could. They're human just like the rest of us," Middaugh said.
"This just wasn't a storm. It's a disaster," said Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George.
The mayor says his city's street crews cannot do much better plowing the older neighborhood's narrow streets with cars parked on both sides.
"It's like putting a size 13 foot, into a size 6 shoe. You can't move the snow because there's nowhere to go," said the mayor.
The city is scrambling to find enough contractors with dump trucks to haul away piles of snow after the streets are plowed.
"Hopefully by Friday, we'll have most of the streets cleared, depending on how good the contractors, and that we have enough room to dump the snow someplace," George said.
Back in Miners Mills, Dorothy Middaugh says people like her have to pick up the slack and help clear streets and driveways and not depend too much on overworked city crews.
"It's passable, but considering the situation, they have to get the mains open first in case of an emergency and everything like that. I can't really knock them. They're doing the best they could."
Mayor George says it will still be a few days before operations in Wilkes-Barre seem normal.
He's canceled trash pickup in the city for the rest of the week and estimates all the overtime and outside work will cost Wilkes-Barre about $500,000, money that is not in the city's budget.