The heavy snowfall from this week’s two-punch winter storm has kept one central Illinois towing service incredibly busy.
Bruce Pedigo, president of Joe’s Towing, said Winter Storm Landon has resulted in more calls for service than any other storm he can recall.
“This has been an incredible storm system,” said Pedigo. “I've been doing this my whole life — my dad was Joe; I was brought up in the business and I'm 53 years old — and this is one of the most I've ever seen for trucks in the ditch in my entire career.”
Since the storm initially struck the Greater Peoria area on Tuesday, Pedigo said numerous passenger vehicles and semis have gotten stuck in the snow. He said his office received more than 1,300 calls in the first eight hours Wednesday, and his crews spent the day assisting the Illinois State Police on interstate highways.
“All of my guys are working nonstop, especially heavy-duty crews to deal with the semi trucks,” said Pedigo, whose company has 32 trucks based out of offices in Peoria, Bloomington, Normal, and Creve Coeur. “We worked 23 hours from time we got up Wednesday morning until we went to bed. We had four hours of sleep and then we came back out and did it again.”
Pedigo said although road conditions were improving as of Friday morning, they’re still getting flooded with service calls.
“Residential, it's been off the chart to the point where we're not (giving) ETAs, because we can't,” he said. “If you're in a parking lot and you're stuck and it's not plowed, we can't get you. If we’ve got to go way in and get you, even though our trucks are four-wheel drive, with the amount of snow and the drifting, we get stuck. That doesn't do anybody any good.
“It's same way with the side streets; if your street hasn't been plowed, we're not going to be able to get to you.”
Pedigo said he expects call volume to remain high over the next few days as temperatures in the low teens and single-digits grip the area.
