By Kevin Jenkins
editor@perryvillenews.com
You might have guessed this little piece of trivia by now, but January was the coldest month in the contiguous United States in 37 years. In addition to the cold temperatures with wind chills falling below zero, southeast Missouri saw an ice storm and snowstorm move through the region early in the month. One followed immediately after the other, hitting the area with a one-two punch.
The latest snowstorm began moving through Perry County around 3:30 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, and it wasn’t too long before streets and lawns were completely covered. By Wednesday morning, the region had seen, according to the National Weather Service, anywhere from 4 to 9 inches fall. The snow resulted in schools and businesses closing throughout southeastern Missouri and even led to many roads becoming difficult and sometimes impassable for days.
While Perryville’s Public Works Director Jeff Layton and his crew are still cleaning up limbs from the ice storm at this late date, by Wednesday morning, Feb. 12, his team had already been busy for many hours putting down salt and clearing snow-covered roads.
“We plowed all night long, trying to stay ahead of it,” he said. “We did get some salt down. When the sun came out, in conjunction with the salt and the traffic, we could see bare pavement in places. There are still some side streets that you can't see pavement on, and that takes time with traffic. And even with salt and sun, if there's no traffic on it, sometimes it's not going to get down to bare pavement. But in these cold, cold temperatures, it's kind of hard, but the main thoroughfares are looking pretty good. We’ve still got work to do. We'll probably still be adding some salt. I imagine there's going to be some refreezing tonight (Feb. 12) as temperatures drop and the sun goes down. So that'll be something we'll battle with again tomorrow.”
One thing Layton was thankful for was that, unlike the ice storm, the snowstorm didn’t cause any damage from falling trees and limbs.
“We did not get any calls that I know of for road blockages from tree limbs,” he said, so, that's a good thing. We don't have anything like that. It's mainly just keeping the first responders' paths available to get to where they need to go — the police, sheriff, ambulance and fire and then also getting the main thoroughfares for the citizens going. We'll probably be battling it for a few days, but I think the worst is over as long as we don't get anything else.”
Also contacted on the morning of Feb. 12, Perry County Sheriff Jason Klaus said the snow caused a few minor traffic mishaps, but all-in-all, it could have been worse.
“Since the snow started yesterday afternoon, our deputies have worked several slide-offs, most of them non-injury, due to slick road conditions,” he said. “The roads are getting better at this time, however, some of the secondary roads and county roads are still slick.”
Klaus thanked Perry County residents who made the situation better by their cooperation.
“I appreciate all the citizens who took precautions before the snow hit to limit their travel on the roadways,” he said. “That’s always very helpful as these events go, especially throughout the night. Just ask anybody who still has to travel to plan ahead, take their time and just get there safely.”
