ICY HIGHWAYS BRING ON NUMEROUS ACCIDENTS IN AREA; MOST SCHOOLS FORCED TO CALL OFF CLASSES AS FREEZING DRIZZLE MAKES TRAVEL UNSAFE

DOING WHAT SHE CAN: While watching motorists sliding in front of her house, Jennifer Huskey decided to do what she could to help by pouring some ice-melting mixture onto Cape Rock Drive Monday.

Freezing drizzle early Monday left an icy glaze on highways and sidewalks that made going rough for motorists and pedestrians alike.

The ice nearly paralyzed rush-hour traffic. Most schools called off classes.

Southeast Missouri State University resumed spring semester classes on scheduled Monday but officials said attendance was lower than usual because many students could not make it to the campus.

The Missouri Highway Patrol and Illinois State Police said they were overwhelmed with calls about accidents or requesting road conditions.

Cape Girardeau police reported more than 22 accidents occurred during a three-hour period. Most were termed minor, with cars in ditches or medians.

The frozen precipitation began here at about 3 a.m., when the temperature was 27 degrees. Drizzle quickly froze, leaving a glaze that many motorists failed to detect until they drove out of their driveways.

Capt. Steve Strong of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said, "If the ice hadn't started melting by mid-morning, we would have really had a major problem."

Police alerted the city street department shortly after 6 a.m., but Assistant Street Superintendent Kevin McNeel said it took a while for many of his workers to get to the Public Works Department building on North Kingshighway.

"We already had our equipment ready because of the forecast of freezing rain on Saturday morning," McNeel said. "Our problem on Monday morning was that a lot of our people were slow getting in because of the icy streets."

McNeel said when sand trucks did get out they immediately ran into rush-hour traffic, which was mostly stalled on hills on main streets.

"There were a lot of places we had trouble sanding because we couldn't get to them because of all the stalled vehicles," McNeel said. Most of the problem areas were along Cape Rock and Perryville Road and on hilly streets in northwest residential areas.

Strong said off-duty police officers were called in and those on the midnight shift were held over to help the day-shift officers work ice-related traffic mishaps.

"Between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., our officers worked in excess of 22 accidents. After we reached the point where we had over 10 accidents holding for an officer to work, we started telling motorists to exchange insurance information if there was no injury involved and we would contact them later this week," Strong said.

A collision between a semi-truck and a car on the I-55 Diversion Channel bridge injured one person, but the injury was minor.

Before state trucks could get to the icy highways, traffic tieups were common at just about any overpass or bridge. A 16-car tieup occurred at the Route M overpass near Rockview. Several persons were injured in accidents that occurred on the overpass.

Scott City police reported numerous motorists slid off I-55 into the muddy median. At mid-day several cars remained mired in the median.

Scott City Police Chief Rob Elledge said there were no ice-related accidents in town, and only one accident on the I-55 northbound on-ramp. "Everybody down here drove pretty well," said Elledge.

Jackson police investigated three weather-related accidents. Chaffee officers said a couple of cars slid off their streets.

The highway patrol said there were numerous accidents involving cars and trucks off Highway 60 between Poplar Bluff and Sikeston.