The State Emergency Operations Center is still up and running even though most problems associated with the blizzard have been resolved. Operations Chief John Campbell says there are still quite a few areas with snow covered roads.
Gov. Nixon monitors progress at Missouri's Emergency Operations Center before, during and after the blizzard. Click the above photo to be redirected to a slide show of the storm. (Photo courtesy Dept. of Public Safety.)
He says they’ve received calls from Miller and Camden counties in the Lake area that transportation is still at a halt and that there are “still similar reports from Cedar County in Southeast Missouri, even as far northeast as Knox county and places like that, so obviously its scattered where the heaviest snow fell, right through the heart of Missouri, basically from the Southwest through Jefferson City up to the Northeast.”
Campbell says there are only a few people in the state without power, which is normal for any time of the year. All shelters have been shut down.
He says the Emergency Operations Center is starting to look at when it can shut down, but won’t guess as to when that might happen since the Governor makes that call.
“We dodged the bullet when it comes to ice,” he said, noting that ice is what typically causes serious damage to power lines and infrastructure, “but clearly we did not dodge the bullet when it comes to snow. We were just completely blanketed with a good solid 18 to 20 inches in many parts of the state.”
SEMA has not had a problem with water systems or electrical systems with this weather event. Campbell says “once we can get a solution to the problem of getting roads cleared we’ll be well on our way to normalcy.”
AUDIO: Jessica Machetta reports [Listen, Mp3, 1:13 min.]
