Recent Snow Storms Will Have Lasting Effects Over the Coming Weeks

The recent snow storms of February 2010 that hit most of the North East part of the country caused monumental issues, to be sure, but that is only the beginning.

Everyone first was just amazed at seeing so much snow dumped on the ground so quickly, as in the recent storms that occurred throughout the major northeast portion of the United States. The next week, everyone faced the issue of digging out of two feet, plus of snow, losing power and heat to thousands of homes for days and waiting, in many areas for more than a week to even get their streets cleaned even once! The issues of the recent snows have been huge, but as the temperatures are still cold and it continues to snow, even in smaller amounts, nearly every day since, the tons of snow that have been piling up on the sides of streets, in parking lots and empty fields is not going away any time soon.

The heavy snow that has been sitting on roof tops for over a week, is now causing secondary issues in collapsing roofs and leaking into homes, destroying more interior property. Insurance companies are getting busier by the minute, as are roofing contractors. These are times when many unscrupulous people will try to take advantage of these issues. Be very careful in getting recommendations for roofers to remove snow from roof tops and doing repairs during this time!

The last major issue will obviously develop when all of this snow begins to melt. The best case will be for the temperatures to rise slowly and the sun to come out in small amounts every day, to melt everything as slowly as possible. When and if this snow begins to melt, if it melts too fast or is accompanied by rains, the rivers will rise and we may face record breaking flooding in many areas of the country.

Local, State and Federal governments should begin preparing now to get ready for this very likely flooding, rather than wait for it to hit.

I live in a new, well built home that is only seven years old and endured first floor ceiling leaks and attached sunroom leaking over the recent week after the fourth biggest snowfall in the history of the Pittsburgh, PA area. I thought that since I had a new home, my only problem was whether I would continue to have electricity of not. We ended up having so much snow on the roof, that water melted and found it's way down a vent on the roof and drip out of our family room ceiling, until the snow melted enough off of the rooftop. We also developed leaking through a roof seal between our home and our attached sunroom. So, even though you have a newer home, you are not immune from having these types of issues, especially when getting hit by these snowfall amounts.

The effects of the snow storm of 2010 will be felt throughout the weeks to come, so as the saying goes...."It ain't over, until it's over"

Have faith though, Spring is around the corner....it just will take a while to go around the corner, because you have to wade through two feet of snow!