Drivers seemed largely to heed warnings to stay off the roads. Keeping up with the shoveling, however, would keep most everyone busy

SCRANTON, Pa. — Empty streets. Darkened store windows. More trucks with plows than without.

A massive winter storm that blanketed a swath of the country bore down on Northeast Pennsylvania and dumped more than a half-foot of snow on the region by the early afternoon Sunday. 

On many fronts, drivers heeded warnings to stay off the roads as snow fell as fast as an inch-and-a-half at one point.

In Lackawanna County, Mary Kay Bazil and her sister hustled to try and keep up.

“We thought we’d get a little start because it’s not going to stop too soon,” Bazil, of Taylor, said.

Plow trucks did what they could but soon ruts appeared in the snow covered roads. 

Louis Mancuso, of Old Forge, saw a chance to have a little fun while helping dig out his neighbors: he attached a snow plow to his side-by-side. An ingenious design, he said.

“Better than being stuck in a plow truck all day,” he said.

Keeping things clear turned into an all day kind of task. Debbie Williams, of Old Forge, tried to keep the sidewalk clear by her home on South Main Street. She planned to brave the cold every few hours to shovel. Stanley, her Cocker Spaniel, watched from a window. 

Just up the road, however, 12-year-old Louis Zelenski and a few of his enterprising friends realized the snow was an opportunity.

Louis, of Old Forge, hopes to ride an electric bike during the warmer months this year but he needs to come up with the month to pay for one.

Grabbing their shovels, the youngsters set off into the neighborhood looking to clear driveways and sidewalks for cold cash.

The day was young and there was plenty more snow to come.