MoDOT focus has been on main roads

When Kara Koebler-Freeman heard the doorbell ringing Monday night at her Jackson residence, she assumed her was neighbor coming to check on her. She answered the door to find the tree in her front yard had collapsed under the weight of several inches of ice and had fallen against the doorbell, waking her up.

Massive tree damage and fallen power lines as a result of the worst ice storm in several decades created nearly as many problems on roads throughout Southeast Missouri as the ice itself.

"We have trees and lines going down so quick we can't keep up with them," said Keith Gentry, superintendent of Missouri Department of Transportation's southeast district.

The Department of Transportation had about 120 trucks plowing and cindering around the clock since Monday, and they would continue to do so into today, pulling extra manpower from other districts as needed, Gentry said.

Their focus has simply been on keeping the major roads open as much as possible, he said.

Secondary roads did not receive much attention Tuesday, as crews in Cape Girardeau and surrounding counties tried to keep up with responding to calls on the highways and major roadways.

Though Cape Girardeau generally will not close roads unless there are trees or power lines down, some of the residential and side streets in the city remain so choked with ice that travel on them is not recommended, said city public works director Tim Gramling.

"We just haven't gotten to many of them," he said.

City officials must wait for AmerenUE workers to remove many of the fallen power lines and untangle them from trees, which may not be for a while, as Ameren workers are devoting so much time to restoring power to customers.

Koebler-Freeman said she has been without power since 2 a.m. Tuesday and cannot leave because of felled tree limbs and power lines blocking her car.

Dozens of accidents

Sgt. Dale Moreland, of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said were between 25 and 30 accidents on the highways Monday, and close to the same number Tuesday in Troop E, which covers Southeast Missouri. Parts of U.S. 61 and Highway 25, as well as areas of Interstate 55 north of Scott City were heavily affected by the storm, Moreland said.

Though there were more than 20 accidents reported in Cape Girardeau and three in Jackson on Monday, traffic was so light Tuesday that there weren't many accidents, Sgt. Kevin Orr of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said.

Most of the calls police officers took involved either road obstruction or vehicles sliding into ditches, Orr said.

Around 3 p.m., a tractor-trailer became stranded on the median of I-55 near the 99 mile marker, he said.

"There a lot of black ice on the highway, and people are not realizing that. It looks like just rain, but it may be a sheet of ice," Moreland said.

Moreland advised drivers to use extreme caution if they had to venture out onto the road, make sure their headlights were on, drive slowly and buckle their seat belts.

While most of the major streets in Cape Girardeau were passable by late Tuesday, conditions were still hazardous, said Sgt. Barry Hovis of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

"Risk of injury increases in this type of weather," he said.

Hovis said that while there were rumors about the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge being closed to traffic, they were not true, and that had not been discussed.

In Jackson, numerous tree limbs and power lines strewn across the road blocked traffic Tuesday, and sometimes made it difficult for firetrucks to respond to emergencies, said Capt. Randy Davis of the Jackson Fire Department.

Lt. Rodney Barnes of the Jackson Police Department cautioned drivers not to place too much confidence in four-wheel-drive vehicles, as the ice was just as treacherous.

"Four wheels spin just as easily on the ice as two," Barnes said.

If you must leave your home, Orr suggested carefully planning your route, staying away from large hills and making sure to carry a cell phone to call for assistance if necessary.

Ria Friederich, owner of InStyle, a salon in Jackson, said she had to make several calls to women determined to make their scheduled hair appointment.

When she advised them that she couldn't get out of her driveway and that generally only services like hospitals stayed open in severe ice storms, one replied that if she had to go to the hospital, she wanted her hair to look good, Friederich said.

In Scott County, road conditions were extremely icy with scattered patches of black ice, but not many accidents were reported, said the sheriff's department.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245