Chicago Calls in Construction Firms to Help Dig Out Citizens
Photo: AP/Wideworld

Contractors are busy cleaning up after a Midwest blizzard hit Chicago on Feb. 1-2, dumping more than 20 in. of snow. The city’s fleet of more than 250 snowplows could not keep up with the blizzard, the region’s worst since 1967. More than two dozen local firms brought in their own heavy equipment to deal with the deluge. A week later, a fleet of yellow iron and dump trucks was still canvassing the city, plowing roads and trucking away snow. For the workers, it was just another day at the office—the snow might as well have been sand or rock. “It’s about the same,” said Victor Guzman, 44, while running a loader for area contractor Capitol Cement Co.