Freezing rain has been causing numerous crashes across southeast Missouri on Wednesday. Much of the region remains under an ice storm warning. Poplar Bluff, Kennett, Malden and Caruthersville are just some of the towns in the warning area.
Up to a half-inch of ice is possible in parts of southeast Missouri, through tomorrow morning. National Weather Service (NWS) Paducah meteorologist Derrick Snyder is urging southeast Missourians to stay home.
“Now we’ve had another round of moderate to heavy sleet that has fallen on top of that freezing rain that’s really caused a mess on the roads, especially the untreated side roads and parking lots, sidewalks,” Snyder says.
State Department of Transportation (MoDOT) crews are working continuous 12-hour shifts throughout southeast Missouri. MoDOT emphasizes that chemicals used to treat the roads start to lose their effectiveness below 25 degrees. They’re urging you to have a full tank of gas.
“As we go through tonight with the freezing rain continuing, there is the potential for some scattered power outages, especially in the Missouri Bootheel area and then further north to around Poplar Bluff,” says Snyder.
Snyder also says there have been numerous reports of crashes in the Poplar Bluff area and along I-55, and motorists are also reporting black ice on bridges and overpasses.
Missourinet Cape Girardeau television partner KFVS reports that Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop E in Sikeston has received 137 calls for service, which includes 68 crashes and 49 stranded motorists due to ice.
Missourinet Farmington affiliate KREI reports almost all schools in their southeast Missouri listening area have canceled classes. Our Kennett affiliate KBOA reports the same, throughout the Bootheel.
Much of the ice storm warning area was also hit by the deadly January 2009 ice storm, which brought three days of ice, sleet and snow to the region.
The Delta Center in Portageville notes the 2009 storm left about 100,000 people without power from Poplar Bluff to the Bootheel to southern Illinois. More than 100 shelters were opened across southeast Missouri, because of that ice storm.
Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s interview with National Weather Service (NWS) Paducah meteorologist Derrick Snyder, which was recorded on February 10, 2021:
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