Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Tri-State area

HANNIBAL, MO. -- Things are getting better every day, that's the word from Marion County Emergency Management Director John Hark.

Hark says cleaning up after this storm is going to be a slow process.

He says Hannibal has plenty of experience fighting snow storms, but they are not very experienced in fighting a blizzard like this one.

At this point Hark is pleased with the fight and recovery.

He says the street department is working very hard to get all the snow loaded up and hauled off to a dumpsite.

"We can't make it go away, but we can have a plan to start fighting it. And we'll learn some lessons with this, I'm sure and next time we maybe will do a little better," said Hark.

Hark realizes many people may be getting fed up with the plows pushing snow into driveways and burying their cars, but he hopes people remain patient with the street crews as they continue to do whatever they can to clean up.

While those crews continue the recovery from Winter Storm 2011, John Hark is also looking a few months ahead.

All this snow is going to be melting at some point and will more likely than not be flowing down the Mississippi River.

Marion County Emergency Management Director John Hark says he has already been talking to Hannibal's City Manager about all the possibilities of flooding.

They talked about an early melt, Spring rains and how much snow is up north.

In the next few weeks Hark will be on a conference call with with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about the flood projection.

He says the city will remove the snow and put in the flood gates if need be.