Accidents keep officers busy
More ice is coming
By Bobbi Mlynar , Brandy Nance
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
By Bobbi Mlynar
mlynar@emporiagazette.com
Three to four inches of snow packed into ice Tuesday and turned roads into skating rinks in the Lyon County area.
The situation is not expected to improve during the next 36 hours.
Dennis Cavanaugh, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said today will start off as a cool day and it will warm up as winds pick up.
“We’ve got highs around Emporia getting up into the mid 20s, which is an improvement,” Cavanaugh said. “As for the next 24 hours it doesn’t look too exciting. The main story is going to happen in about 36 hours when a system pulls out of the southwest and moves into the central plains here ...”
Cavanaugh said some freezing drizzle could begin to fall by dawn Thursday and develop into freezing rain.
“In the afternoon it will warm up and be liquid,” he said.
Cavanaugh said it’s unlikely that there will be significant ice accumulation but it’s a possibility.
“If it starts to look worse, we certainty ask people to keep their eyes and ears open to the weather here,” Cavanaugh said.
Sheriff’s deputies were kept busy working accidents through much of the day Tuesday, often at locations near Milepost 135 on Interstate Highway 35.
Katrina Marie Gosha, 19, of Bucyrus, was taken to Newman Regional Health for treatment after her vehicle struck a parked semi-tractor trailer on Interstate Highway 35 at mile marker 134.5, just east of Emporia at about 10:50 a.m..
According to a report from the Kansas Highway Patrol, Gosha was driving a 2002 Toyota utility vehicle south on I-35 when she lost control on the icy roadway. Gosha, who was wearing a safety restraint, was treated at Newman and released.
The Toyota struck the 2006 Freightliner semi-tractor trailer, which was parked. An occupant of the truck, Donald Ray Watson Jr., 22, of Carbon Hill, Ala., was not injured, nor was another occupant, Donald Ray Watson, 48, also of Carbon Hill. The elder Watson was not wearing a safety restraint, the report said.
The truck was legally parked, KHP said.
The accident was the only one recorded as being worked in this area, according to the KHP accident log.
No accidents in this area were logged by 8 a.m. today on the Kansas Turnpike. However, the Emporia/Lyon County emergency medical service responded to a motor-vehicle accident at milepost 146 on the Turnpike at 5:18 p.m.
At the scene, EMTs tended to one patient, who was not taken by ambulance for treatment.
Lyon County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the accidents described below:
The first wreck logged during Tuesday’s snowfall came about 12:43 p.m. in the 2900 block of North Highway 99 near Admire. Blowing snow apparently caused the wreck, which happened as one vehicle attempted to pass another and ran into a ditch. No serious injuries were reported.
No injuries were reported when a blue Lincoln reportedly slid into the median at 1360 I-35 about 2:29 p.m.
A minivan slid off the road and into a ditch in the 2000 block of North Highway 99 about 2:30 p.m.
Coffey County law enforcement called in an accident on I-35 to Lyon County’s dispatch at 3:12 p.m. A vehicle had gone into the ditch, and items that were being transported on top of the vehicle were strewn across the roadway.
Another vehicle slid on the ice and went into a ditch at 3:44 p.m. at 1350 I-35.
Soon after, a van struck a guard rail and blew out two tires at approximately the same location.
Less than a half-mile east of those accidents, at 3:56 p.m., the driver of a car lost control on the ice and slid into exit signs at 1380 I-35.
A two-vehicle accident was reported at 4 p.m. at 1350 I-35.
Another car slid off the road at that location at 4:25 p.m.
About one mile east, at 1410 I-35, another non-injury accident was reported at 5:10 p.m.
Police took reports on seven accidents within the city limits on Tuesday.
Weltha (anonymous) says...
That interstate was horrible yesterday. I passed most all these accidents on my way home. I'm glad no one was hurt.
December 17, 2008 at 10:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )