The parking lots adjacent to Westbrook High School and the athletic fields were neatly plowed Wednesday – but empty.

School was called off again for Wednesday in both Westbrook and Gorham as most residents were still digging out from the storm that dropped some 2 feet of snow on most of the region, coupled with heavy winds that caused unpredictable snowdrifts.

Tom Eldridge, the director of Westbrook Public Services, was back in the truck Wednesday morning after a few hours rest. He said the storm wasn’t difficult because of the type of snow, which was mostly light and fluffy, but it was challenging because there was so much of it.

“We have no room for it on the sides of the roads,” he said.

Eldridge said public services crews began Tuesday at 1 a.m. by laying down salt, and “haven’t stopped yet.”

The department has rotated staff throughout the storm, but needs three-quarters of the staff on the job at once to cover all the areas. The department has 17 plow units and three sidewalk plows to clear 93 miles of road and 20 miles of sidewalk in the city.

During the storm, plow crews concentrated on “collector” roads, or major streets in Westbrook. Eldridge named Cumberland and Main streets and William Clark Drive as examples.

On Wednesday, he said, as crews finished regular plowing, the priority becomes smaller roads and sidewalks. He said there are some sidewalks, however, that they won’t be able to clear.

“There’s just too much snow,” he said, adding that the next step will be some snow removal. After snowstorms of this size, public services crews remove snow with separate equipment and truck it to one of two locations.

The same employees do both plowing and removal, with different equipment, but also have to find time to rest in between.

“The guys have done really, really well,” Eldridge said. “They’ve worked hard.”

Unofficial snowfall accumulations in Gorham ranged from 26.1 inches in South Gorham to 30 inches in the northwesterly part of town.

Robert Burns, director of Gorham Public Works, said Tuesday’s storm was similar to one on Feb. 8, 2013, that dumped 35.5 inches of snow in Gorham.

Burns said his crew, which plows 144 miles of roads, on Tuesday stayed with it but at times some roads were impassable for passenger cars. Now the issue is clearing and removal of snow.

“The real work starts today and tomorrow,” Burns said.

Acting Gorham Police Chief Christopher Sanborn said his officers utilized four, all-wheel-drive SUVs to patrol through the wind-whipped snowstorm that lashed the town.

Sanborn said the town was “pretty quiet” for the most part with “no major crashes.” But, Sanborn said, a few cars slid off the road.

The Gorham Fire Department had “a full staff at all stations,” said Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre on Wednesday.

Lefebvre said they responded to two or three calls about carbon monoxide issues at buildings where outside vents were covered with snow, but no one was hospitalized.

Lefebvre said a Spiller Road home was “substantially” damaged by a pine tree that crashed through the roof. He said five people lived in the home.

“They did have a place to go,” Lefebvre said.

Westbrook Fire Chief Andrew Turcotte said Wednesday that the general public listened to the warnings telling residents to stay inside and off the roads Tuesday.

“People stayed home,” he said, adding that the temperatures and wind weren’t enough to cause significant power outages.

Leading up to the storm on Monday night, Turcotte said, the fire and rescue division bulks up staff and opens up their emergency operations center.

He said the fire department uses seven to eight additional firefighters for an additional engine, and staffs an additional ambulance.

In Buxton, Police Chief Michael Grovo said a few cars slid off roads, but no one was seriously injured. Grovo, who estimated Tuesday’s snowfall in Buxton at about 2 feet, said many residents heeded warnings and were not out in the storm.

Grovo said Buxton’s public works crew plowed continually, as snow drifted in “whiteout conditions.”

At about noon on Monday, Westbrook Superintendent of Schools Marc Gousse was just a few hours from calling for the cancellation of school for Tuesday, and was predicting school cancellations for Wednesday, as well. He was right.

Gousse said his worry with storms like this are for younger students fighting the wind and cold.

“We can deal with snow, it’s the wind and sub-zero temperatures,” he said.

In the event of significant power outages, school buildings also become the go-to space to house displaced people.

“We have to be ready to support the community,” Gousse said.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, Councilor John O’Hara asked Westbrook residents to look out for their neighbors.

“I urge you to look in on your neighbors, especially if they’re elderly,” he said. “A knock on their door to make sure they’re all right certainly wouldn’t hurt.”

During Tuesday’s storm, two privately? ?owned snowplow trucks collided head-on at 2 p.m. on Route 202 in Hollis.

Steve McCausland, spokesman for Maine Public Safety, identified the two drivers as Arthur Hannaford of Hollis and Todd Lacourse of East Waterboro, who was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. McCausland said the two trucks struck plow to plow, causing considerable damage to both vehicles.

Maine State Trooper Jeremy Forbes investigated the accident. McCausland said police believe that Hannaford had drifted into the other travel lane in white-out conditions.

Meanwhile, forecasters are calling for more snow on Friday and Monday.

As the area begins digging out from Tuesday’s storm, Tom Tobiassen, owner of Moonlight Cleaners on Main Street in Westbrook, shovels a path in a 6-foot snow bank on Wednesday. Customers had to go around back to enter the business. He was curious about when the city would plow the sidewalk. Staff photo by Robert LowellWilliam Taylor shovels out his driveway in Westbrook after the big blizzard.