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WQAD Throwback: Groundhog Day blizzard of 2011 leads to neighborhood cooperation

After 18 inches of snow fell in three days time in early February 2011, neighbors banded together to clear driveways and free cars.

MOLINE, Ill. — Editor's note: This is part of a series looking back at stories out of the WQAD archives. This particular one was a report from February 2, 2011 from reporter Chris Minor.

Quad Citians woke up to the snow of 2011...

"I haven't seen this since I was 11," one man yelled.

...and to the sound of going nowhere fast.

On side streets and alleys, without 4-wheel drive, you could forget it.

"The problem is you got three foot of snow and two inches of ice underneath it."

But we found, block after block, for every stuck truck, neighbors pushing, plowing, snowblowing and shoveling each other out.

"My other neighbor's father came to help plow our street to get all the cars off the side of the road."

"This is how you meet your neighbors, I remember back in '78 that's how we all met the neighbors in the alley and helped each other out.... it's like deja vu," one Moliner reminisced. 

So, while the big guns tackle the main drags, people came through today.

Digging out and moving forward; the snow of 2011 a reminder that sometimes, you can't do it alone.

"Alright come on baby, let's go shovel," one neighbor said to another.

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