2 die in blizzard, roads remain icy

Take a snowy bow, Eastern Iowans.

Many of you stayed home Wednesday and, if you had to get on the roads, you drove slowly and carefully.

The result: A surprisingly accident-free and rapid cleanup from a monster blizzard that left between 6 and 11 inches of snow across the state, closing portions of Interstates 80 and 35 and many businesses, schools and colleges.

Today could be just as challenging, though, with the reopening of businesses and at least some schools and colleges. Roads are snow-packed and icy, and it will be extremely cold - with a high of 8 and a low of minus 8 tonight. Wind chills were expected to be minus 25 last night.

But the wind that created whiteout conditions throughout the state on Wednesday - with gusts of up to 50 mph - was to lessen by 9 last night.

Flights into and out of The Eastern Iowa Airport also should resume today, after the vast majority were canceled Wednesday.

At least two people died. A Mason City man died of a heart attack while using a snowblower. An elderly man died in Yale, a Guthrie County town of 250 northwest of Des Moines, when he was stranded outside, National Guard spokesman Michael Wunn said.

In both Linn and Johnson counties, snowplows were to be out by 4 a.m. today, tackling rural roads that drifted shut after being plowed Wednesday.

“We kept all the hard-surfaced roads open,” said Kevin Hackathorn, Johnson County's road maintenance superintendent.

State road crews, too, were able to keep all major routes open to at least two lanes, “but it filled up pretty fast,” said Gretchen Gresslin, district maintenance manager in Cedar Rapids.

City street crews were working last night to keep major routes clear.

“Right now we're about 90 percent done with residential territories, and we're touching up the main roads,” Cedar Rapids public works maintenance manager Craig Hanson said late Wednesday afternoon. “The biggest problem right now is, anything south of 60th Avenue SW there's intense drifting.”

Hanson had 85 plows on city streets until about 7 a.m. Wednesday, when workers on duty since 1 p.m. Tuesday went home. Last night's emphasis was on keeping the city's major streets clear.

“(Today) we'll try to hit up the residential areas as best we can,” he said.

To help, a residential snow emergency is in effect today and Friday in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. In both cities, residents on non-snow-emergency routes must park on the even-numbered side of the street today, on the odd-numbered side Friday.

Officials also asked residents and snow removal contractors to avoid pushing snow onto cleared streets.

In Cedar Rapids, crews will begin removing the windrows from downtown streets at 11 tonight.

Hanson said that operation will be speeded by the city's new force-feed truck, which uses an auger to collect the windrowed snow and deposit it in a dump truck. The city's last force-feed truck was lost in the 2008 flood.

The city has also received replacements for the older motor graders lost in the flood.

“Every single grader (13) went out today,” Hanson said. “I've never had that before. Graders take a real beating, and our previous average age of the grader fleet was just under 20 years.”

Snow and ice have been collecting on the LED warning lights on the city's newer equipment, obscuring them. The LEDs, also used on some traffic lights, burn cooler than the older types.

“The LEDs are brighter, they are more visible, they are lower maintenance. But the downside is what we are watching now,” Hanson said.

On Tuesday night, at the height of the blizzard, state public safety officials reported hundreds of motorists were stranded, including several drivers on both sides of 10-foot drifts across Highway 6 between Council Bluffs and Oakland in southwest Iowa.

On Tuesday night and early Wednesday, at the height of the blizzard, Iowa National Guardsmen accompanied the Iowa State Patrol and transportation department crews on four rescue missions to aid stranded motorists in the Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Grimes areas, Guard spokesman Wunn said.

The rescue teams based in Cedar Rapids and in Iowa City/Coralville reported a quiet night and day.

Travel was not advised on I-80 last night from Des Moines to Cedar County and on I-380 from Coralville to Shueyville.

This report was compiled by Steve Gravelle and James Q. Lynch of The Gazette.

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