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<p>From hand shovels at the federal courthouse to big payloaders near King&#8217;s College, residents grappled with the massive cleanup of Main Street in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday morning as &#8212; one way or another &#8212; snow moved.</p><p>Traffic remained light in Wilkes-Barre, mercifully so for pedestrians who took to the streets every time they came to a stretch of sidewalk untouched by human endeavor in the wake of Tuesday&#8217;s record snowfall.</p><p>Pickup trucks with plow blades on the front pushed the white stuff into empty spaces, and into ever-denser snow banks where spare space had filled up.</p><p>Billowing white clouds from hand-pushed snow blowers were the most ubiquitous sign of clearing efforts on sidewalks, though even that was abandoned when it came time to clear the steps at the Max Rosenn federal courthouse, where two young men toiled with the tool of choice in such circumstance: shovels.</p><p>At University Towers across Main Street from the Wilkes campus, one worker was lucky enough to merit a driving snow blower, darting along the walks at a good clip while largely protected from the powder he flung far and fast.</p><p>Those tasked with cleaning the large plaza of the Midtown Village shopping area were not so well-ensconced. Two men wrapped to the eyes in parka and hood trudged behind smaller snow blowers while a third used a payloader to bank snow around trees.</p><p>Snagged in the top branches of a tree outside the U.S. Post Office, a green shamrock-shaped balloon struggled to escape with each gust of wind, as if to remind passers-by that three days earlier all you had to complain about was the cold.</p><p><strong>&#8216;A godsend&#8217;</strong></p><p>On North Main Street, snow-removal workers employed the next-best thing to a flamethrower: a hefty payloader scooped up buckets of snow and dumped them into a waiting truck, to be hauled from &#8212; rather than piled along &#8212;city streets.</p><p>And a lone cyclist pedaled past a parking garage, perhaps scoffing at those who paid to stow their vehicles for a few hours; perhaps envying them.</p><p>Elsewhere around the Wyoming Valley, residents went through much the same ritual.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to take some time,&#8221; Swoyersville Mayor Chris Concert said when asked how cleanup efforts were going.</p><p>Concert said the borough&#8217;s maintenance crews had been out &#8220;non-stop&#8221; working on removing snow.</p><p>He added that he didn&#8217;t manage to plow his own car out until Wednesday afternoon.</p><p>&#8220;I feel their pain,&#8221; Concert said.</p><p>He was quick to point out, though, that everywhere neighbors were lending hands to help others clean up the wrath of Winter Storm Stella.</p><p>Nowhere was that more evident than on Hazle Street in Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>Annie Weintraub was clearing her driveway with the help of a passer-by. She made a path for her dog early Tuesday but hadn&#8217;t thought of the rest of the pavement until she &#8220;absolutely had to.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;This is crazy,&#8221; she said as she took a break. &#8220;There is so much snow, and nowhere to put it.&#8221;</p><p>Sam Henahan, of Wilkes-Barre Township, was on his was home and saw Weintraub struggling. Having a pickup truck with a plow on the front, Henahan was able to help her, even if just a bit.</p><p>&#8220;Every little bit helps,&#8221; the truck driver said, noting it doesn&#8217;t cost anything but time to extend some courtesy to someone else.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s a godsend today,&#8221; Weintraub said.</p><p><ins>For more storm-related stories, please click <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/tag/stella" target="_blank">here</a>.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Tom Mattern clears the sidewalk outside of Mattern&#8217;s Floral and Gift Shop on Market Street in Kingston. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_TTL031617Snow4ad-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Tom Mattern clears the sidewalk outside of Mattern&#8217;s Floral and Gift Shop on Market Street in Kingston. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Heavy equipment, neighborly spirit all helping</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com and Melanie Mizenko</p><p>mmizenko@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p><p>Reach Melanie Mizenko at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TL_MMizenko</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> PrFTI9aMWQM</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrFTI9aMWQM</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> &lt;iframe width=&#8221;560&#8221; height=&#8221;315&#8221; src=&#8221;https://www.youtube.com/embed/PrFTI9aMWQM&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> Storm aftermath in Wilkes-Barre</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Mark Guydish</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

The Wyoming Valley digs out