Glen Robertson Says Plowing Residential Roads Not Practical

Lubbock continues to dig itself out of the worst snowstorm since 1983, with many roads nearly impassable and thousands snowed in.

Mayor Glen Robertson believes the present situation would have been much worse had it not been for the city's Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

Flanked by members of the Department of Public Safety and other city employees who make of the EOC, Mayor Robertson addressed the media Tuesday afternoon about the ongoing efforts to clear roads and keep electricity on.

"We've got still a major obstacle ahead of us the next couple of days to clear the snow that's still remaining on our streets...We've been here for 57 hours, we're going to stay here until the job is finished and we can get life back to normal in Lubbock," Robertson said.

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Robertson activated the EOC Sunday morning at 6 a.m. and credits the teamwork of the people involved as key in avoiding potential catastrophe.

"When the snow really started and the blizzard hit Sunday night, if we hadn't of had this activated, if I hadn't had these men and women behind me down here, the catastrophe we could have faced in the city would have been enormous," Robertson said. "So we were able through communication and cooperation with these people behind me to pool our efforts together to make sure we kept LP&L bucket trucks out there keeping the power on."

Robertson added that making sure people had electricity, areas around hospitals and fire stations were clear and police were on the road were "critical" priorities.

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The Mayor also addressed criticism from some residents about the lack of snow plows on residential roads.

"I wish we had the manpower and the equipment to plow all the streets, but it's not practical," Robertson said. "If we go into residential neighborhoods and we start plowing those streets, we're going to piling up 8-to-10-foot drifts in front of every resident's driveway, literally blocking them in their home...we'll create more of a problem than we'll be solving."

You can watch video of the full press conference below.