MANY GO TO HOSPITALS FOR ICE-RELATED INJURIES

There are few if any safety tips for walking on ice.

The best: "Don't!"

"That's about the best advice," said Jason Dauster of Cape Girardeau County Private Ambulance Service Inc. in Cape Girardeau.

The ambulance service was busy during the early hours of Wednesday's ice storm.

"We started off very busy," said Dauster. "People going outside were greeted by a thin sheet of ice and were falling. They suffered hip and leg injuries, abrasions and other injuries."

Ambulances and all other traffic found it slow going on the ice, which was part of a storm that had been taking aim at the region since the weekend.

"This was something," said Jim Ramage of Union Electric Co., which had to put out crews in a number of areas to chase down causes of outages in and out of the city.

"The worse could be yet to come," said Doug Leslie, director of Cape Girardeau Public Works Department. "With more cold expected, things may get worse."

Hospital emergency rooms throughout Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois were busy Wednesday.

"We've been were busy here since early Wednesday morning," said Margaret Dicus, nurse manager at Missouri Delta Medical Center at Sikeston. "The emergency room was full throughout most of the day."

Some of the injuries were lacerations requiring sutures. Many of the injuries, however, were sprains and bruises.

Of the first six patients who reported to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau by 10 a.m. Wednesday, half were referred to surgery, said a spokesman for the hospital.

Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau reported having seen 16 ice-related-injury patients by noon.

Reports from Union County Hospital in Anna, Ill., and Perry County Hospital at Perryville were much the same -- several fall-related patients, mostly with minor injuries.

Cape Girardeau's two air ambulance services -- LifeBeat Air Medical Services at Southeast Hospital and Air Evac Lifeteam at St. Francis -- were grounded throughout the storm.

Law enforcement agencies throughout the region urged people not to venture out.

Some retail stores were open. West Park Mall's three anchor stores -- JCPenney's, Venture and Famous Barr -- were open. Mall officials said aboaut half of the other stores were open.

Stores at the outlet shopping mall at Sikeston were closed.

Union Electric and Cape Girardeau Public Works Department employees have been busy since the early hours of Wednesday.

"We had a number of outages in the North Cape Girardeau area and along Highway 25 near Gordonville," said Ramage"

UE will keep crews out until all repairs are completed, he said.

"I don't get to go home as long we're having problems," he said.

A number of the outages were the result of falling wires.

"Our system has been constructed to withstand icing," said Ramage. "Trees and tree limbs are the things that bring the lines down."

Ramage warned people against the dangers of trying to move any downed lines.

"That's the one thing we want to make sure of," said Ramage. "Leave the wires alone. Call our 800 number and leave the address; we'll take care of the wires."

The city's public works crews went out at 2 a.m. Wednesday when the icy rain first started, said Leslie.

"We keep tabs on things all day and into the night," said Leslie.

The city, which has already used 100 tons to 150 tons of salt this month, replenished its supply Tuesday.

"I think we have enough to get through this storm," said Leslie. "Then we'll replenish again."