Freezing rain makes streets dangerous

Freezing drizzle will continue to keep roads slippery into this morning commute, according to Rachel Trevino, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Paducah, Ky.

Bridges and overpasses will be particularly dangerous.

School closings for today announced late Tuesday night included Scott City, Chaffee, Zalma, Leopold and Perry County public schools.

"It won't be very heavy rain, but with temperatures below freezing, all it will take is a thing layer of ice to cause hazards," she said. "[Today[']s] high is only in the mid-30s, so it will be below freezing for most of the morning."

She said after a mid-day lull in weather today, more freezing rain is expected.

In Perry County and northern Cape Girardeau County, Tuesday's rain started as a fine mist just after noon, quickly coating the roads with thin ice, causing some schools to close early and leading to traffic accidents on roads like Interstate 55 and Highway 177.

Among the rollovers reported were two on I-55 — at the 117 mile marker and at the Oak Ridge exit — and another on Highway 177 near Trail of Tears State Park. Traffic slowed to a crawl north of Cape Girardeau on I-55 just after 1 p.m. Two people died in weather-related traffic accidents Monday.

Jack Lakenan III, Perry County emergency management director, said a "slew of accidents" were caused by cars "mostly just sliding off the road."

A winter storm warning was issued for the Southeast Missouri counties of Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott. A winter weather advisory remains in effect until 6 a.m. today.

Joel Evans, emergency operations manager for Scott County, said Tuesday morning that roads remained treacherous in several areas around the county.

Though he had not been advised of any major power outages, Evans said the county was prepared to offer aid.

"We have cots and blankets ready to deploy on a Homeland Security trailer," he said. "That would be deployed specifically to wherever the power outage is, if there is one, which I don't foresee happening today."

John Prance Stoddard County emergency management director said while cars continued to slip and slide, two paramedics delivered a baby.

Stoddard County Ambulance District paramedics Amy Earls and Steven Cummins were called at 8:50 p.m. Monday to help an unidentified woman whose water had broken. The paramedics helped her give birth to a boy, then made the 90-minute trip over roads made icy by the sleet and freezing rain to a Cape Girardeau hospital, where mother and child are recovering.

It was the second delivery in the paramedics' careers. Earls has been on the job for eight years and Cummins is an 11-year paramedic veteran.

Jim Bollinger, Bollinger County emergency management director and Marble Hill fire chief, said no major problems were reported, though roads were perilous.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported fatalities resulting from traffic accidents in New Madrid and Wayne counties Monday.

Marcelaine J. Falk, 40, of Doniphan, Mo., was killed in a head-on crash on U.S. 67, just south of Poplar Bluff, Mo., after losing control of her car. She was the fourth person to die on Missouri highways this month and the third this week.

At 1:50 p.m. Monday, Willie B. Love, 51, of Cairo, Ill., lost control of his 2004 Ford when he slid on an icy U.S. 60 near Sikeston, Mo., and crossed a median, striking a 2007 Freightliner driven by Bruce A. Lench of Long Lane, Mo. New Madrid County Coroner Jim McSpadden pronounced Love dead at the scene at 4 p.m. Two passengers in the Freightliner were injured.

Just after 10 p.m. Sunday, Jeremy D. Matzker, 19, of Patterson, Mo., was traveling on Highway 34 three miles east of Piedmont, Mo., when his 1999 Pontiac ran off the road and struck an embankment and a tree. Wayne County Coroner Allen Berner pronounced him dead at the scene 25 minutes later.

Trevino said to expect a mid-day lull in today's rain, with another round of wet stuff as night falls. Temperatures are expected to rise Thursday and Friday to as high as the 50s, with the possibility of showers and thunderstorms. Another arctic front is expected to arrive over the weekend.

"It's been a very interesting week around here," Trevino said.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

388-3646

bblackwell@semissourian.com

388-3628

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