Snow is no longer falling but Highway 4 north of Jefferson remains closed Sunday afternoon due to blowing and drifting snow. Highway 4 south of Jefferson and Highway 30 in either direction are open but travel is strongly discouraged, according to the Greene County sheriff’s office.
County snowplow operators are working only to assist sheriff’s deputies in rescuing motorists stranded in their vehicles. One motorist was stranded in his vehicle for 12 hours before someone was able to get to him.
Greene County dispatch received calls of between 40 and 50 vehicles in ditches, with 30 of those being in the northern portion of the county.
According to emergency management director Dennis Morlan, calls of vehicles in ditches started at about 7 pm and were still coming in at midnight.
He told of a medical call south of Jefferson. An EMS crew set out but was told by the sheriff’s office not to venture south of the “S” curve up the hill from the Raccoon River bridge on Highway 4 due to total white-out conditions. A snowplow accompanied a Jefferson fire truck to bring the patient to the ambulance.
An emergency shelter was opened during the night at the Greene County Community Center after all the local hotel/motel rooms were filled. Five persons spent the night and were still there well into the afternoon, waiting for rides or for a tow ban to be lifted.
Morlan said he was “amazed” at the number of people on the roads last night, given how much weather information was available prior to the blizzard.
