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    Tough driving
January 27, 2009

Icy weather comes to area

While drivers and pedestrians tried to maneuver in the ice storm that began during early morning hours Monday, police and emergency rescuers tried to maneuver to help them.

By 2:30 p.m. 11 car accidents -- four of them rollovers -- and a fallen Woodward County resident, who broke a leg, had already been chalked up locally to the slippery conditions brought on by freezing rain and sleet.

Conditions throughout Oklahoma were so bad, Gov. Brad Henry declared a state of emergency for all 77 counties, paving the way for seeking federal assistance from ice storm damage.

Though it was dangerous, only a tenth of an inch of precipitation was expected by mid-day today in the local area, according to Woodward County and City Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer.

Still, the weather was expected to “be pretty rough,” he said.

The ice system came across northwest Oklahoma and followed the Interstate 44 corridor as it passed through.

“It’s a lot worse in Oklahoma City,” Lehenbauer said, noting that area might receive a half an inch to three quarters of an inch of ice and face power outages. “Most of our electrical system is expected to withstand half an inch,” he said. “We shouldn’t have any outages here.”

In an effort to combat the ice, trucks from the state’s Department of Transportation laid salt on highways, while the Woodward Street Department distributed it in town.

“We’re discouraging travel, especially in this area through Wednesday morning,” Lehenbauer said. “We should see improvements by tonight, however, and into the following day.”

The ice did have an effect on some school sporting events with games at the Sharon-Mutual Tournament postponed and Woodward’s 9th grade games at Elk city were cancelled. Woodward’s 8th grade games in the Alva Tournament were postponed until Wednesday.

As always in an ice storm, the weather was cold.

The temperature climbed only to 20 degrees Monday, but Lehenbauer said it should reach into the 40s by late afternoon today.

While ice storms have consumed the state as late as March, January is usually the month to expect them.

In 2000 at this time, Woodward suffered power outages for three days, while the rural areas waited three weeks for electricity to be restored, Lehenbauer said.

“We look at ice storms the same way we view hurricanes,” he said.

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