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February 5, 2010

Lots of snow, minor incidents and accidents

Weather service: More snow expected early next week

By Christina M. Wright, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer

ANDERSON — The snow hit Madison County hard on Friday, but caused relatively minor accidents and power outages in the area.

“I think people are driving accordingly since they know it is bad out,” said spokesman Sgt. Mike Burns, of the Indiana State Police.

Meteorologist Crystal Pettet of the Indiana Weather Service said the center had received reports of about 5 to 6 inches of snowfall in the Madison County area.

“It’s going to continue throughout the night, starting to taper off and get to be less amounts at about 3 a.m.,” she said. “Until then, it’s probably going to keep up at a pretty good clip.”

Pettet said there’s 30 percent chance of snow for Saturday, but it would only be tenths of an inch.

She added that driving will probably become more difficult into Friday evening, as the winds picked up and caused “some pretty significant drifting.” And any wet spots from the wetter morning snow would freeze overnight.

Although local agencies reported mostly minor injuries, officers were busy with constant slide-offs and property damage accidents.

“The day shift is staying a little later and the night shift is coming in a little earlier,” said Madison County Sheriff Ron Richardson.

Burns reported that Indiana State troopers responded to about 10 property damage accidents and three incidents where vehicles had slid off the road. Richardson said deputies responded to about 20 property damage accidents and about 15 slide-offs along Interstate 69 in the Pendleton Post jurisdiction.

One of those accidents, in Ingalls, included a vehicle that had been overturned, with a person trapped inside. Despite the circumstances, though, Burns said there were still minor injuries.

Mitch Carroll, a spokesman for Anderson Police Department, said the hour and a half after about 1:20 p.m. kept local officers busy.

“We have had seven traffic accidents in the past 90 minutes,” he said in a text message. “Most of the mishaps involve only property damage; however, at least two have involved minor injuries.”

Richardson said deputies also handled about four accidents that resulted in minor injuries.

Power outages also remained low, according to Anderson Municipal Lights and Power dispatcher David Eick. He said the largest outage, near 38th Street and Scatterfield Road, at about noon left more than 1,400 customers in the dark for no more than 45 minutes.

Beyond that, he said, there were about 35 other customers whose lights failed during the storm. He reminded customers with outages to call 648-6480.

Pettet warned that more snow might be on the horizon for the early part of next week, with a 60 percent chance on Monday night and a 70 percent chance on Tuesday. She said snowfall estimates weren’t made this far in advance, but “it’s looking like moderate amounts at this point.”

Contact Christina M. Wright, 640-4883, christina.wright@heraldbulletin.com.

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