Ice causes fewer problems in Southeast Missouri this week

Waves of freezing rain that covered Cape Girardeau with 1.1 inches of precipitation Thursday are expected to continue until noon today. While the ice slickened roads, led to school cancellations and knocked out some people's power, many officials on Thursday considered the storm minimal in comparison to last week's. And with a predicted high in the mid- to upper 30s, National Weather Service meteorologists are predicting little or no ice or snow accumulation today.

A snow plow made its way down Main Street clearing the road and spreading salt as sleet fell Thursday. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Traffic moved along North Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau as sleet fell Thursday afternoon. (Fred Lynch)

"Hopefully the temperature will go up enough in the morning to melt it off. Saturday looks good; that should melt the remainder," Dave Purdy, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., said Thursday evening.

Crews pretreated streets Wednesday in preparation for the storm, and Cape Girardeau workers hit the roads at 4 a.m. Thursday, alternating between spreading salt and plowing. In Jackson, crews got to work at 5 a.m., cindering the roads, and continued throughout the day.

One Cape Girardeau group worked from 7 a.m. to noon Thursday and again throughout the night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., while another worked a 12-hour shift throughout the day Thursday.

"We'll continue to rotate shifts as long as we need to," said Steve Cook, Cape Girardeau's assistant public works director. Jackson city administrator Jim Roach was unavailable for comment Thursday evening.

Cook said he was ordering an additional 500 tons of salt and was hoping to get 500 more. The city started the season with 1,000 tons.

Rick Freed found a dry spot under the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge to check the salt level in his truck as he makes his rounds in the city, clearing roads and spreading salt on Thursday, February 21, 2008. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Trucks that had been switched from plowing to limb collection capabilities to clean up from last week's storm had to go through the four-hour process of returning to plows.

"We picked up limbs for a day and a half before we had to go back to snow removal," Cook said.

He said the conditions are improved over last week because much of the sleet did not freeze to trees. Limbs weighed down from ice last week snapped and fell onto power lines, leaving tens of thousands of people without power.

Kim House cleared icy slush from her car in the Town Plaza parking lot as sleet fell Thursday afternoon in Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

Thursday morning AmerenUE reported 125 customers in Cape Girardeau had lost power, but the electricity was quickly restored. As of 6 p.m. Thursday, there were no Southeast Missouri AmerenUE homes without power.

No ice was reported on trees in Bollinger County Thursday evening, where Leo McElrath, chief deputy for the Bollinger County Sheriff's Department, said it was raining and the temperature was 31 degrees.

"The main roads are just wet at this time," he said. "The secondary roads and outlining roads are still covered with ice."

He said no motor vehicle accidents had been reported.

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department had only gone on three runs as of 5 p.m., compared to the hundreds of calls they received last week.

"I'd say the preparation has been the same" as last week, Cook said. "It's just a different event."

lbavolek@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123