GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Greensboro is in a State of Emergency for the fourth time this year, all related to weather.
First a tornado in April; then hurricane related damage in September; then a tropical storm in October; and now, a major snowstorm in December.
Leave it to Sandra Cook to see the bright side of things.
"I haven’t seen a snow like this in a long time," she explains. "And it’s right before Christmas. How about that?"
As her neighbors help shovel her out, she feels blessed.
"I’ve kind of been through it. I’m just glad to be alive. I thank the lord for it."
Several months ago, before this Greensboro neighborhood by Peeler Elementary was blanketed in snow it was blanketed in debris.
"I’m trying to checking every once in a while to see if anything is trying to seep through at all," Cook says as she looks up at her roof. "Cause the roof had been replaced when the tornado came.
For her and several others who live by her, clean-up hasn't been easy after every storm that's hit.
"I’m still picking up glass and debris," she says. "I’m still doing that."
It's hard to see the tarped over roofs covered in snow, but they're there weather the storm.
Even if some people are not.
"A lot of houses have been torn down since then," explains Daniel Matthews, who was out shoveling his neighbors' walkways.
"A lot of us had to leave and I was one of those," Cook says. "I was gone for two months before I could get back in the house. So I'm grateful."
As bad at it seems, Mother Nature helps bring a fresh perspective.
"If you got power, you got food, you’re okay," Daniels says.
In this storm, they have their power. But they're still waiting on their roads to be plowed. So they press on, doing what they've been forced to do before.
Pick up what's left and dig themselves out of yet another mess.
"It’s just been one thing after another I guess this year," Daniels says. "Maybe next year will bring something a little bit better."
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