Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Weather Closes Schools
SLICK ICED ROADS CAUSES SEVERAL ACCIDENTS
FARMINGTON — Farmington, Prairie Grove and Lincoln students enjoyed a third day off from class Monday as city crews continued to work on the streets in their respective areas.
Larry Oelrich, director of public works and administrative services, said his staff was focusing on clearing intersections so that vehicles could stop and start without problems.
“We’re having normal weather-related problems,” Oelrich said. “All the roads are slick.”
Oelrich said crews bladed the main roads on Friday but freezing rain over the weekend covered the roads with a thin layer of ice.
“If we have any melting today, we will hit it hard,” Oelrich said, adding that the ice on the roads is extremely hard and extremely slick.
“We’ve had a lot of wrecks and people sliding off the roads and I think this is going to continue until we get this layer of ice off. If people would creep instead of driving their normal speed.”
Oelrich said one police vehicle was damaged when it slid off the road but the car is still driveable.
Lt. Jeff O’Brien with the Prairie Grove Police Department said officers stayed busy Friday morning, helping people whose cars slid into ditches.
“We’ve had vehicles all over the ditches,” said Lt. Jeff O’Brien. “It’s been a mess.”
Off the top of his head, O’Brien counted nine vehicles that had gone into ditches and added there probably were a lot more than that. Most of the problems occurred on U.S. 62, at the hill in front of Dollar General and the sharp curve near the tennis courts.
The department worked a rollover accident Thursday at U. S. 62 at the Illinois River bridge but O’Brien said the driver refused any treatment.
Officer Chad Parrish with the Farmington Police Department said streets were fairly quiet Friday morning but picked up in the afternoon as the snow stopped and people decided to venture out. Parrish’s guess was that people were getting cabin fever and needed a break.
“People are sliding off the road left and right,” Parrish said.
Police worked two fender-benders at Main and Broyles streets when one vehicle was driving too fast, slid and then hit another vehicle.
Assistant Police Chief Tony Lee reported that his officers only worked one accident with property damage over the weekend but no injuries occurred.
“Everything is looking good,” Lee said Monday. “It was very slick over the weekend.”
Floyd Shelley, public works director for city of Farmington, said his staff bladed main streets when the storm started and has “kept blading.” Crews have salted major intersections to help reduce accidents and make it safer for emergency vehicles.
“This is the worse ice I’ve seen on the roads since I’ve been here,” said Shelley. “My advice is to not go out on the roads.”
Shelley said warmer temperatures are needed to clear off the roads because the ice is as hard as concrete.
School officials planned to wait until Monday afternoon on deciding whether to have classes Tuesday.
Allen Williams, Prairie Grove superintendent, said his district would make up two snow days on Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day.
The rest of the snow days would be added to the end of the school year.
Allen said he had been out driving some of the school’s streets and described the the condition of the roads as “terrible.”
He was hoping the sun would come out Monday and melt enough of the snow and ice to have school Tuesday.
“Yesterday, there wasn’t any way,” Williams said. “It’s all frozen hard.”
Jim Hendricks, transportation supervisor for Farmington schools, said he found that roads were worse on Sunday afternoon than Saturday because of the freezing rain during the night.
“The worse part is that where the snow is plowed off, nothing is left but ice on the streets,” Hendricks said. “To go tomorrow, it will have to get a lot better. It’s not worth getting someone hurt over.”
Peter Synder, meteorologist withe National Weather Service in Tulsa, said Washington County did not set any records for low temperatures during last week’s winter storm.
A morning low of 8 degrees in Fayetteville, compared to a record low of -7 degrees, Snyder said.
“It’s unusual to see this but it happens. In this part of the country, our weather is very extreme,” Snyder said.
Snow accumulation for the area included 7 inches in Fayetteville, 8 inches in Prairie Grove, 5 inches in Westville, Okla., and 6 ¼ inches in Stilwell, Okla., Snyder said.
Monday’s forecast was calling for a chance of snow but Snyder did not anticipate any accumulation of snow in western Washington County, possibly only a dusting of snow.