Road ice caused by freezing rain made for dangerous conditions in Athens.
Freezing rain and icy roads caused a Level Two Snow Emergency in Athens County and 16 vehicular accidents on Wednesday morning.
Injuries from road incidents were unknown as of press time.
The OU Scanner reported a Level One Snow Emergency at 9:04 a.m., which was upgraded to Level Two at 9:20 a.m. A freezing rain advisory was also in effect for Athens County until 11 a.m., according to the Athens Emergency Management Agency’s twitter page.
Interim Replacement Athens County Sheriff Rodney Smith said his deputies found roads to be “very slick and icy.”
“When we go up to a Two, that just means we want people to use more caution and stay off the roads if they can,” Smith said.
The Snow Emergency was downgraded back to Level One at 12:35 p.m. A Level Three Emergency would have closed roads entirely, Smith said.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol chalked accidents, including a semi truck that struck a bridge on US 33 East, from the icy conditions.
“It was a winter ice storm, so we took about as many calls as could be expected in these months,” said Dan Pfeiffer, Athens County 911 director.
The OU Scanner reported that 911 was “backed up with vehicle accidents” at 9:04 a.m.
Evan Shaw, Documentary Producer for WOUB, tweeted to the OU Scanner twitter page calling Pomeroy Hill a “parking lot” that was too difficult to navigate.
Michelle Nelson, an Ohio University student, also tweeted a road closure and five-car pileup on Hooper Street off of Richland to the OU Scanner.
Athens Transit General Manager, Mary Dailey, said the morning was “pretty uneventful” for the bus system.
“We had no incidents or problems, but obviously in these kind of conditions our drivers just had to drive slower,” Dailey said.
Julia Fair contributed to this report.
@MCTilton
mt522913@ohio.edu
