Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
The surprise snowstorm that swept into Sweet Home early Sunday morning left about 6 inches of the white stuff on city streets by Monday, with the possibility of more on the way at press time late Monday.
City officials said police and city crews were able to stay on top of most potential problems and things went relatively smoothly as they assisted those who did have mishaps, most of them due to slippery roads.
City Maintenance Superintendent Pat Wood said his crew was called out by police early Sunday and spent the day clearing roads and intersections with backhoes and spreading cinders and sand on hilly areas and potential icy spots around the city.
“Things have gone real good,” he said. “We haven’t had any serious problems, just a whole lot to do.”
Removing snow is one of the biggest challenges, Wood said.
“One city block produces a mountain of snow,” he said.
Police Chief Bob Burford said his department chained up one of its Chevy Impala patrol cars and left the other unchained, as the chained unit patrolled the avenues and side streets while the other car stayed on the highways and cleared roads.
Burford said the biggest problems were accidents due to slippery roads and vehicles sliding into ditches. According to the police log Sunday, there were two such incidents in the morning and another in the afternoon.
“We did a lot of counseling for people who either did not know how to drive in the snow or who were having too much fun driving in the snow,” Burford said.
He said officers also responded to several calls reporting people towing children behind vehicles or riding ATVs in the streets.
Burford said most of the situations were taken care of with warnings from officers.
“We give warnings unless people make it clear they aren’t going to accept the warning in the spirit in which it’s given,” he said. ”
He said the only serious incidents were a three-car collision at 47th and Main at 11:23 a.m. and a driver who was given a ticket after he was seen allegedly pulling what Burford described as “a raft with his son on the back.
“It was a real dangerous situation,” he added, noting that last year similar activity resulted in at least one child’s death.
Sheriff Tim Mueller said his deputies reponded to 32 accidents over the weekend, 16 involving injuries, though none serious.
He said things got so busy that deputies were basically checking on people to make sure they weren’t hurt and had a tow coming, then moving on to the next accident.
“We actually called in a few extra deputies,” he said. “They were hoofing it. It was a busy day.”
Wood said his crews concentrated on clearing intersection so that heaped-up snow piles would not freeze.
“The cars throw the snow into a pile when they turn corners,” he said. “When it freezes, these new cars are only about 6 inches off the ground. We try to move the snow where it’s stacked up.”
The city only has two backhoes with blades, but Wood said the county sent its snowplow through town during the night, clearing snow off some of the main arterial streets such as Long and Elm.
With low temperatures in the teens early last week, Wood said there were not too many problems with frozen pipes. A pipe did burst in the former Groves Pharmacy building Friday afternoon at 1301 Main St., sending water onto the carpet and under doors and walls. City workers turned off the water until the building’s owners could take care of the problem.
Wood said that was one of “eight or nine” calls from residents who had similar experiences. He said that city workers simply turned off the water to stop leakage until people could get the problems fixed.
The only city pipe that burst was near Alder and 9th Avenue, where a 2-inch line broke.
Wood theorized that the break was due to sewer construction going at that location.
“When the ground is freezing it has less sponginess,” he said. “When equipment goes by, the pipe breaks.”