Snow, ice pelt county

Published 12:00 am Monday, January 26, 2004

Slightly reminiscent of last year's President's Day ice storms, snow and ice left over from Sunday's storm continued to make travel difficult Monday.

All primary and secondary schools in Lawrence County were closed for the day.

The Ohio Department of Transportation had crews working around the clock since Saturday night to pretreat with a brine and salt mix the 435 lane miles of roads that ODOT covers, said Bill Patrick, transportation manager for ODOT's Lawrence County garage.

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Overall, the county received approximately two inches of snow and more than an inch of ice, Patrick said.

To make travel as safe as possible, ODOT had 13 crews working on the roads Sunday and nine overnight. Eleven crews will continue working on the roads today to get the slush off the roads, push the snow piles back and keep the intersections and crossovers clear.

As of Monday morning, ODOT had used 553 tons of salt, 74 tons of fine gravel that is mixed with the salt and 2,415 gallons of liquid calcium, Patrick said.

Though it did remind him of the ice storm a bit, Patrick said "it was nothing compared to last year."

The state did not issue any road closures in Lawrence County. No downed trees or power lines were reported, he said.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol was busy Sunday responding to six automobile accidents. Fortunately, no one suffered any serious injuries, said Dispatcher Mark Duncan.

"For the most part, it was just people sliding into things," Duncan said.

Overnight and Monday morning was quiet, he said.

The worst may be over, but the temperature will continue to see-saw between the 30s and 40s, according to Meteorologist Ray Young with the National Weather Service in Charleston.

Temperatures are expected to get into the mid-40s today but drop to near freezing tonight, he said. Another storm is expected to hit the Tri-State Tuesday but it will bring mostly rain with a possible one-inch snow accumulation overnight Tuesday, Young said.

Across the state, the weather caused several problems as snowfall measured 4 to 7 inches in some areas.

Fourteen people had to be rescued from Lake Erie after high winds cracked the ice they were fishing on, separating it from Catawba Island, authorities said. No one was hurt or fell in the water.

A woman died in southwest Ohio after her car crossed into oncoming traffic on state Route 123 in Franklin and struck a pickup truck head-on, Franklin police officer Steve Dunham said. The pickup driver wasn't hurt.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.