SHAWANO, WI (WTAQ)- Shawano County residents are still digging themselves out of the weekend snow.
“I have just never seen anything like this.” That was the common response when you asked residents about the snow.
33 inches of snow fell throughout most of Shawano County.
Sheriff Adam Bieber said the largest snowfall that everyone ever witnessed, also caused a lot of stress, concern, and calls for help.
“We received almost 3,000 calls ranging from questions about road conditions to calls for service. We had 104 crashes and almost 200 disabled vehicles.
Bieber said it did bring the community together as neighbors helped neighbors.
“There was a lot of people going around trying to help people out. Complete strangers just seeing who they can help.”
That help included everything from plowing to giving people rides.
One of those helping hands came from Brandon Buntrock.
Running a weekend side business, equipped with a snowblower, snow plow, skid steer and shovels, Buntrock offered to help people in need, and quickly found himself busy with jobs.
“I have done over 100 and I still have 65 more to do. The first day I had over 200 people text me.
Buntrock says he expects to busy for the first part of the week yet and that includes long days.
“I start about 11:00 in the morning and work until about 7:00 in the morning. I get a couple hours of sleep.”
He is offering the services at a reasonably priced as a side job.
That same helping attitude helped Shawano Buildings and Ground Director Jeff Easter clear the school property of a large amount of snow.
“It was coming down so fast and hard and we were pushing some heavy snow, but could not get it done fast enough.”
Easter says he put out a request for help from any insured individual who had some larger equipment.
That’s when Roger Bohm, the owner of a concrete crushing company came to the rescue.
“He said sure I will give you a hand. He had two loaders at the High School and it took both just to clear the High School lots.”
Easter said how fast the snow came, caught them off guard. He was happy to get all the help he did, including help from his staff who all worked long days.
“We had four trucks going, but it wasn’t enough. We tried to stay ahead of it, but couldn’t do it.”
“Nobody has ever seen this in their lifetime and it was pretty stressful,” said Bieber.
He said there were some positives from the whole experience.
“We did not have any crime calls or complaints during this period.”
Bieber said he also noticed that kids enjoyed the big snow hills and all the fun that comes with it, but the adults, not so much.
“It’s fun to look at, but not as fun to move,” Jeff Easter said.
School was closed in Shawano on Monday, partly because of snow pressed up against the building and entrances.
