Paula Porter/For the Gazette Snow is piled up in downtown Calumet as crews work to keep village streets clear. Snowfall totals in the Keweenaw topped 50 inches in a five-day period according to the Visit Keweenaw.

HOUGHTON COUNTY – As heavier than normal snowfall continues to pile up, residents are beginning to show their frustration over how to get it out of driveways.

On Saturday, the Houghton Police Dept responded to a snow plowing complaint on East Street. The next day, they responded to another such complaint on Sharon Avenue.

Visit Keweenaw on Monday reported 50 inches of snow since Feb. 17, as recorded by the Keweenaw County Road Commission. That brings the total snow accumulation for the season to 277.75 inches.

A major snow storm last Wednesday brought more than 18 inches of wet, heavy snow and forced schools to close for two days. Two days later, a second storm dumped more than 14 inches over the area, with another eight inches falling on Feb. 21.

Houghton Police Chief John Donnelly said snow complaints are common as winter progresses, particularly with snowier seasons.

“We encourage people not shovel snow back into the street,” Donnelly said. “What happens in that situation is the plow carries it down into somebody else’s yard and we all have to work together diligently to try to keep the snow in the right spots.”

The village of Laurium is experiencing similar situations where people are tending to plow snow from driveways back into the roadways, which creates problems for Department of Public Works crews. “People are running out of room and they give up and then the street crews are getting frustrated,” Laurium Village Police Chief Kurt Erkkila said.

The main complaint, he said, is people plowing snow against the snowbanks.

“There just isn’t room to do that right now,” he said.

The streets are too narrow now, he said, adding that the snow is coming up over the wing of the grader or the plow and it’s falling right back in the street behind them.

“The bad thing is,” said Erkkila, “even the unobstructed areas are a lane and a half now. Where there is no disruption from plowing, snowblowing, just straight-out village plowing, I don’t think two cars can get by on some parts of the streets.”

Erkkila said in many instances, people should have a snowblower instead of a plow, as many yards are not large enough to accommodate large piles piles built by plowing.

Lt. David Outinen, with the Hancock City Police, said his department has received several snow plowing complaints.

“We’re getting calls pretty much from every part of the city,” he said, “people complaining the streets are too narrow or the people are pushing it into the streets.”

Outinen echoed Erkkila’s statement, saying he thinks people are just run out of room. “People don’t know where to put their snow now and everybody’s getting frustrated.”