By Dave Stafford, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
ANDERSON, Ind. — Here we snow again.
Days after a winter storm dropped several inches of snow on Madison County and central Indiana, another storm was set to arrive and deposit several more inches through Wednesday afternoon.
The National Weather Service on Monday issued a winter storm warning predicting 5 to 9 inches of snow through 1 p.m. Wednesday, with wind gusts up to 35 mph on Wednesday.
“It’s frustrating but all our guys seem to be all right,” said Madison County Highway Department general foreman Gerald Imel. Since Thursday, crews have been working around the clock on 12-hour shifts, Imel said.
“Our days are all running together,” he said. “We’ll be on (12-hour shifts) until the next storm goes through and we get it cleaned up.”
Ahead of the storm, Imel said crews were pretreating roads and servicing trucks for another around-the-clock assault.
Madison County Commissioner Paul Wilson said residents should pay attention to media advisories as the storm moves in and be cautious if they have to travel.
“What they’re predicting doesn’t sound good. It’s a combination of several inches of new snow plus winds,” Wilson said. “The snowbanks that are existing will work to collect further snow.
“We’re going to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” he said.
Imel said there are several rural county roads that remain reduced to one lane in places. Crews will run into difficulty in places where snowbanks become too large or when winds whip snow over areas that have already been plowed and treated.
According to the winter storm warning, “Roads will become slick for the Tuesday morning commute. Strong winds will create blowing and drifting snow Tuesday night and Wednesday.”
Wilson said the overtime being paid to county road crews might cause some budgetary concerns to be addressed later, possibly with transfers of money from other sources.
“We’re going to do whatever we need to do to make the roads safe,” he said. “On the list of priorities, public safety’s on top.
“To their credit, they are coming in and working very hard during that 12-hour period,” Wilson said of county highway crews. “They had some very big challenges over the weekend.”
Contact Dave Stafford: 648-4250, dave.stafford@heraldbulletin.com
