Clearing snow in Merrimack Valley an ongoing process

LAWRENCE — It's the cleanup that keeps on going, and on Day 3 across much of the Merrimack Valley there's still lots of work to be done.

"When you have a 3-day event, the last thing you wanna do is tow people's cars," said Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera.

Rivera says his city held off from towing on the first night of the storm, issuing 200 tickets to vehicles in restricted zones on Sunday as a warning on Monday, the towing began.

"When you have to already congested streets…you have to make it safe for people and fire/police vehicles to pass," Rivera said.

So far, 109 cars have been towed throughout snow-covered Lawrence, and Rivera says that number could go up in the overnight hours into Wednesday as towing continues.

Over in Methuen, where 60 cars have been towed, a similar warning.

"It makes it very difficult because the streets are narrow to begin with and if the plows have to maneuver around cars covered with snow, they're also hard to see," said Kristopher McCarthy of the Methuen Police Department.

Plow drivers who are still going at it with minimal sleep tell us cars parked in prohibited areas during a ban stall efforts to clear the snow.

"People don't listen. We ask them to move and they don't move. They got to be towed in order to clean," said plow driver Paul Morales.

George Salas, another plow driver, said: "It does not surprise me. They don't pay attention. They don't give a damn."

Cox Media Group