The clean-up continued Monday after the storm that blew through
the Bradford area between about 5:45 and 6 p.m. Saturday.

Gary Alcock, head of the city’s Public Works Department, said
anyone who has debris they want cleaned up in their yard should
bring it to the curb, where crews will pick it up.

“A lot of people have been hauling (fallen trees and branches)
into our facility, and we’ve been chipping them” up, Alcock said.
“Anyone that wants them can take them. If not, we’re just going to
get rid of them. We have an area of probably two acres, and there’s
over an acre of brush here now. And they’re still hauling it in. We
chipped for 10 hours yesterday (Sunday) and 10 hours today
(Monday), and we haven’t even put a dent in it.”

Dave Schierer of 218 E. Main St. added his explanation Sunday
for all the downed trees, saying ash and oak trees at this time of
year are full of sap, which causes the wood to lose its
strength.

Alcock said all day Monday the department was chipping and
cleaning drains.

“The drains are pretty much open again,” Alcock said Monday. “We
had to get those opened up because they’re calling for more rain on
Wednesday.”

Alcock also said they started cleaning up the trees in the
Tunungwant Creek near Constitution Avenue, where 15 trees were down
in the creek. He said three trees were cut out Monday, and crews
will continue working there today.

Alcock said the street sweeper, helping to clean up debris in
the road from the storm, has been running its normal route, which
hits the East Bradford area on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Eventually it will get all of it swept up,” Alcock said.

Alcock said Penelec crews were on the second block of Jerome
Avenue just after noon Monday. He said the road, the last one
remaining closed due mostly to power line work, was probably opened
up later.

“Our guys kept up pretty well,” Alcock said. “They did a good
job getting things cleaned up.”

In Foster Township, Joe Sweet, head of the road department, said
the streets in the township have been taken care of “pretty
good.”

Sweet said the traffic lights came back on around noon Monday at
the intersection of Bolivar Drive and Seaward Avenue. He said he
believed the temporary stop signs at the intersection were put up
by the city, and when Penelec crews had the lights back up, they
turned the signs around so motorists were not confused.

Sweet said a lot of township residents are taking care of debris
on their properties themselves, with a lot of them burning up tree
limbs and brush. Smoke could be seen billowing up from many areas
in the township Sunday.

“We have a place to bring (tree limbs and other debris) if they
want to,” Sweet said.

Penelec representative Russell VanHorn said all the power was
restored to the system Sunday evening at around midnight.

“There are still several homes that had services ripped off
their houses, and they will need (private) electricians to come in
and fix those,” VanHorn said Monday.

John Stoneman of 5 Euclid Ave. said he got a winter’s worth of
wood to heat his home from a tree that had fallen on his porch. He
said Sunday the city took three truck loads of wood from his
property, and he still had a massive pile of branches to remove
Sunday evening. He said that did not include the firewood he was
keeping.

Two passersby were also looking for firewood when they offered
to help cut up a tree and branches that had fallen at 246 E. Main
St. Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Jim Mahar said BonaResponds from St. Bonaventure
University was in Bradford helping clean up Sunday after the
storm.

Mahar said he heard about the storm at 10 p.m. Saturday on the
radio, talked with a few people and decided to go help by about
10:30 p.m. He said they worked most of the day, working near Arby’s
for a while and on East Main Street and Euclid Avenue.

“If there is still a need we can try to get back,” Mahar said
Monday about helping in Bradford. “I have told the group members
that we will decide later in the week, but certainly we are open to
it.”

Mahar said there are about 600 to 700 people who have worked on
BonaResponds projects, simply “helping” when they’re needed. He
said the group formed in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina,
eventually taking 280 people down to Mississippi and Louisiana to
help. The group also helped in Buffalo, N.Y., last October,
cleaning up trees from a snowstorm that hit and in Enterprise,
Ala., in April after a tornado hit there.

Mahar said it’s “fun” helping others and said BonaResponds is
open for anyone who wants to volunteer.

The storm also affected a few businesses that have 24-hour
services.

A manager at McDonald’s on Main Street Sunday afternoon
confirmed the fast-food restaurant was closed for a while during
power outages from the storm.

Also, the girlfriend of Scott Loop of 203 Seaward Ave. told him
Sunday when she was at Wal-Mart at the time of the storm, employees
there were asking everyone to leave because the wind was blowing so
hard that the automatic doors could not close, allowing a lot of
rain to blow into the store.