Farmers come to rescue of town covered in snow

Farmers clear snow in Harrah, Wash.
(Yakima Herald photo by Jake Parrish)

Leave it to farmers to save local residents from being snowed under. Snow has piled up so high in the town of Harrah, Wash., on the Yakima reservation, that the snow budget of $500—usually spent entirely on sand—isn't enough, Phil Ferolito reports for the Yakima Herald. So farmers on Wednesday "brought out tractors, front-end loaders and a backhoe to clear snow from roads and parking spaces in the center of town."

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Harrah, which hasn't seen this much snow—17 inches has fallen this winter—in at least 20 years, has a one-man Public Works Department for a population of 650, and relies on local volunteers for snow removal, Ferolito writes. Farmers were more than ready to help. "Two front-end loaders at opposite ends of town scooped snow from large piles in parking lots, around stop signs and in front of the fire station and then dumped it into irrigation ditches just outside town." (Read more)