One of the most significant winter storms to hit Perry County in years blanketed the area with more than a foot of snow over the weekend, creating hazardous travel conditions and keeping emergency, city, and county crews working around the clock as bitter cold settled in behind the storm.
Perry County Emergency Management Director Patrick Naeger said the storm delivered exactly what forecasters warned — and then some.
“Weather-wise, we got everything and a little more than we expected as far as accumulation of snow,” Naeger said Monday. “The good news is no ice. Officially, we received 12 inches, but a little more in some places.”
Naeger said the immediate focus following the storm has been clearing roads across the county, a task made more difficult by prolonged subfreezing temperatures.
“With over a foot of snow, this is hard work,” he said. “Unfortunately, the cold weather is hindering that a little bit and is here to stay for at least the next week. Not much of the snow is going to melt very fast, if at all, for the next week at least. So travel will still be an issue for some time throughout the county.”
As part of the county’s cold-weather response, the Perry Park Center was designated as a warming location beginning Friday and remains available during regular operating hours.
“On Saturday, an adult man and woman came to the park center, whom we discovered were homeless,” Naeger said. “We were able to find them shelter for the night with a church in a neighboring county.”
Even as snowfall intensified Sunday morning, Naeger said city crews worked as early as 6 a.m. to ensure the park center remained accessible.
“While there was a lot of effort to make that happen, the good news is that no one needed the warming center on Sunday,” he said. “However, the park center does remain available to the people of Perry County as a warming center during operational hours until further notice.”
Naeger urged residents to take precautions as the cold lingers.
“We have quite a bit of cold weather ahead of us, so we encourage folks to check on their neighbors and loved ones and stay as warm as they can during this time,” he said. “Also, be careful with alternate heating sources and overloading electrical outlets.”
In the City of Perryville, Public Works Director Jeff Layton said preparation for the storm began days in advance, as forecasts steadily escalated.
“We sat in many meetings with the National Weather Service — sometimes several a day,” Layton said. “Originally, it was one to two inches, but with every update, we became more and more prepared.”
All available equipment was loaded, fueled, and ready, with two rotating shifts of storm-response personnel planned. Complicating the response, however, were two water main breaks that occurred as the cold snap arrived.
“We had two crews of six people working on water main breaks at the same time our storm response team came in,” Layton said. “Right off the bat, we had a lot of guys moving.”
In total, 21 personnel were deployed initially, including storm crews, water crews, and airport operations working with a contractor to keep the runway open. A second shift of 14 followed, bringing the weekend total to roughly 35 people involved in response efforts.
Layton said the city’s snow-removal priorities focused first on emergency access.
“Our goal is to get the streets open for first responders — ambulance, police, fire,” he said. “We had a couple of times where the ambulance got stuck, and we had to help them.”
From there, crews targeted dangerous areas such as hills, then main thoroughfares, and finally smaller streets, alleys, and lanes.
Layton also addressed a common source of frustration for residents — the “snow row” left at the end of driveways.
“When we plow, it leaves a snow row. That happens in every municipality, even with MoDOT,” he said. “It would be impossible for us to clean out every driveway in town. If we did that, we probably still wouldn’t have main streets open right now. It is the citizen’s responsibility to shovel out their own driveway entrance.”
Throughout the weekend, numerous vehicles became stuck, particularly those without four-wheel drive. Some were pushed free with help from city workers, police, and even nearby residents, while others had to be towed after being abandoned in roadways.
The workload was heavy. Layton said the first shift worked roughly 19 hours, while the second logged 12 hours, with crews continuing through Sunday evening and resuming again Monday.
“We put over a day’s worth of work in just Saturday and Sunday,” he said. “By the end of Tuesday, we should start seeing some pavement instead of compacted snow.”
Layton credited the success of the response to cooperation across the community.
“Our administrators, aldermen, mayor, citizens, businesses — everyone was supportive,” he said. “We work really well with police, fire, hospitals, and other agencies. When everybody works together, it makes things go smoothly. We kind of look forward to the challenge. Everybody stepped up.”
