Ice storm hits area

By Danica Baker
Herald Staff Writer

December 03, 2007 11:17 am

— CLINTON — Some area residents still are without power and others are cleaning up tree damage after a powerful winter storm hit the Midwest on Saturday.
According to U.S. Government Weather Observer Jim Blaess, the storm began as snow on Saturday morning, before turning to sleet and then a sleet and freezing rain mix. He said the area received a total of .66 inches of precipitation, including one-half inch of ice, before the storm came to a close at approximately 6 p.m. Saturday.
Blaess said that while the storm was damaging, it could have been much worse. He said winds were estimated to reach up to 40 or 50 miles per hour and only went as high as approximately 30 miles per hour. He said if the winds had been as high as predicted, the resulting damage would have been more severe.
Clinton County Sheriff Rick Lincoln said county deputies were very busy for approximately a three-hour period Saturday afternoon, responding to reports of vehicles in ditches and stuck on roadways due to the ice-covered roadways. He said he thinks area residents did a good thing by staying home as much as possible, and he was pleased to see there wasn’t much unnecessary travel.
Lincoln said vehicles traveling the roadways were driving slowly for the most part. He noted that one major accident occurred Saturday afternoon when a semi-truck jack-knifed on U.S. 61 near Welton. He stated that the accident shut down the northbound lanes of U.S. 61 for a short period of time. Lincoln said road conditions were improved quickly by county and state road maintenance departments.
Clinton County Emergency Management Director Chance Kness said the area suffered widespread power outages and several power lines went down because of the heavy ice load. Kness said tree limbs littered roadways in some areas and he had heard of a couple incidents of limbs striking vehicles. He noted no major incidents were reported to his office.
Kness said area fire departments and power companies were extremely busy on Saturday, responding to calls of downed and arcing power lines. Clinton Fire Department Battalion Chief Ken Schumacher estimated the CFD received approximately 40 calls of downed power lines on Saturday. Kness said fire and power crews did a very good job of handling the emergency response, especially for as many calls that were received.
Gateway Area Chapter Director Dave Frett said the Red Cross opened Jefferson Elementary School as a warming center on Saturday night and assisted the Fulton (Ill.) Fire Department in opening the Fulton Fire Station as a warming center on Sunday. Frett said no one came to either warming center for emergency services and the centers were shut down after checking with communications officials to determine the need. He said that calls for assistance after closing the warming centers would have been handled on a one-on-one basis. Frett said he felt area residents handled the weekend winter storm well and did about the best thing to do, “hunker down.” He said the ARC was happy to be available to area residents in case of need and reminds the public that if there is a need for services, to contact the Gateway Area Chapter at 242-5223.
Lights are back on for most people who lost power during the weekend storm. Alliant Energy spokesman Ryan Stensland said that up to 6,400 customers in Clinton County were without power after Saturday’s storm, mostly residents in the city of Clinton. Stensland said that Alliant Energy brought in crews from across Iowa to help fix the damage resulting from the storm. He said the company had up to 40 workers repairing downed power lines at the peak of the damage
He said 20 to 25 residents still are without power this morning and Alliant Energy is hoping to have their power restored today. Stensland said the delay in restoring their power was necessary additional work to the power lines.
ComEd spokesman Joe Trost said more than 100,000 customers in Northern Illinois lost power at least briefly, but by Sunday night, only around 6,000 were still without power.
On Sunday, the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning to area residents to be aware and stay away from down power lines.
The weather was blamed for four deaths in Michigan, three in Wisconsin, and one each in Illinois, Indiana, North Dakota and Colorado.
Dave Horst, horticulturist for the Bickelhaupt Arboretum, said that the trees at the Arboretum suffered little to no damage from Saturday’s storm. He said the little damage can be attributed to proper care of trees and shrubs.
“With proper pruning, a lot of that can be prevented,” Horst said.
He said yearly maintenance and pruning will reduce the amount of damage trees and shrubs suffer during storm conditions. Horst said most damage can be prevented by first removing dead limbs or limbs weakened by a split. He noted pruning then should include removal of cross branches that rub against the trunk of the tree and limbs with tight angles to the trunk, where the bark can grow together creating a weak spot.
Horst said that during winter weather conditions such as ice storms, he does not recommend dousing trees with warm water or shaking a limb to remove built up ice, as those actions can cause more damage.
The AP contributed to this report.