Forecast calls for rain but also higher temperatures

By tonight, expect a thunderstorm. That's the predicted effect of the latest cold front headed toward Southeast Missouri, according to the National Weather Service office in Paducah, Ky., because temperatures should rise above freezing sometime after 9 a.m.

But this morning's commuters could still face patches of ice created by overnight by a combination of freezing temperatures and light rain.

The freezing rain that plagued the first half of the week created continual traffic hazards, particularly on gravel roads in Southeast Missouri counties.

A St. Louis man's 2004 Ford was totaled Wednesday morning after an icy patch caused him to lose control on County Road 530, just east of Pocahontas, sending the car through a bridge rail and into a creek.

Driver Herbert Levy, 71, was wearing his seat belt and not injured. His passenger, Lola M. Wessell, 90, of Jackson, was not using her seat belt, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. She was taken by ambulance to a Cape Girardeau hospital.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.comMany sidewalks and median areas around Cape Girardeau have more ice than the roads.

Cape Girardeau County roads still had a few slick patches late Wednesday, highway administrator Scott Bechtold said, though his crews started applying coal cinders early Wednesday morning and continued through the day.

He said the county uses the coal cinders, which he said are "somewhat messy," because his department gets them free from Southeast Missouri State University.

"It saved them some money and saved us some money," he said. "We got them for the price of coming to get them. Had we not, they would have had to pay to haul them off to get them disposed."

The demands of two ringing phones and chatter from a two-way radio continually interrupted Scott County Highway superintendent Norman Brant. He spent Wednesday responding to calls from county officials and residents and directing road crews.

Brant said he'd had at least half of the county's 350 miles of roads pre-emptively salted Tuesday evening, but overnight rain washed some of the salt away. Low temperatures encased the remainder in ice.

He put the county's two salt trucks to work again Wednesday, with plans for drivers to work well into the night.

"It's hard to whup Mother Nature," he said. "The problem is, it's the shaded areas. We had the salt down, but the ice hit us during the middle of the night and now the salt's between two layers of ice. We were in pretty fair shape yesterday."

Wednesday's top priorities were Scott County's secondary roads, he said.

Stoddard County Emergency management director John Prance said the 13 road districts in his county reported intermittent problems -- enough to cause Dexter Church of Christ to cancel Wednesday night services.

Prance said several county roads were simply closed after cars slid off them, partly to prevent any more accidents and partly for the safety of people trying to get their vehicles out of ditches.

No cost estimates for the overtime hours were available from any of the counties.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

388-3646

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