Lights returning; ice still a road peril

Some schools remain shut as state’s freeze staying put

NWA Media/MICHAEL WOODS  --12/08/13-- 
David Schafer with Musi Mowing and More Inc. works with the snow blower as he works helps clear the snow off the lot at the Enterprise Car Rental office on College Ave in Fayetteville Sunday afternoon.  Robert Musi of Musi Mowing based in Rogers, says his crews have been very busy over the weekend clearing snow from lots all over Northwest Arkansas.

NWA Media/MICHAEL WOODS --12/08/13-- David Schafer with Musi Mowing and More Inc. works with the snow blower as he works helps clear the snow off the lot at the Enterprise Car Rental office on College Ave in Fayetteville Sunday afternoon. Robert Musi of Musi Mowing based in Rogers, says his crews have been very busy over the weekend clearing snow from lots all over Northwest Arkansas.

Monday, December 9, 2013

The majority of people who were without power as a result of the winter storm that swept across the state over the weekend were expected to have service restored by Sunday night, but officials said roads will remain icy through Monday morning.

Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department spokesman Danny Straessle cautioned drivers to be wary of roads that may have been clear Sunday but refroze overnight.

“Conditions on the state highway system will not be normal,” Straessle said. “As a result, your commute will not be normal. You will need to give yourself extra time to get from one point to another, drive under the speed limit, leave distance between your car and the one in front of you and be prepared for delays because there will still be ice patches. We’re not out of this yet.”

Schools will be closed today in the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts.

Little Rock schools spokesman Pam Smith said the district’s central office will be open and 12-month employees will be expected to report to work. The district’s town-hall meeting that had been scheduled for tonight at Otter Creek Elementary School has been canceled.

State highways in the northeastern and northwestern parts of the state remained the worst Sunday, with the department’s winter road map showing ice in those areas. Ice patches were reported in much of central Arkansas and on highways and interstates leading out of Little Rock into Bald Knob, Batesville, Clinton, Fort Smith, Pine Bluff, Monticello, El Dorado, Conway and Hot Springs.

“The interstates in central Arkansas as of Saturday were at about 90 percent clear, but we did have some precipitation fall Saturday night and I wouldn’t say we were back to square one Sunday, but we recommend folks stay inside [this] morning out of fear there will be an overconfidence level and people will go across clear sections of the interstate and then hit an ice patch,” Straessle said.

Two jackknifed commercial carrier trucks held up traffic on Interstate 40 eastbound near Carlisle for several hours Sunday. There were other wrecks scattered elsewhere, Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said.

In Little Rock, public works crews have been working around the clock to monitor city roads. A night crew was scheduled to work from 6 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday plowing roads when applicable and spreading sand and salt. Public Works Operations Manager Eric Petty said many of the streets were wet and will be frozen over today, but that citizens can call 311 to report an area’s conditions and request a cleanup.

“There are still a lot of local streets, residential roads, in shady areas and steep hills that are still real icy,” Petty said Sunday afternoon. “The public really needs to watch for those. There will still be those Monday for sure.”

In most of the state it will be Tuesday before the sun and above-freezing temperatures reappear, National Weather Service spokesmen said. In northeast Arkansas, there’s a 25 percent chance of snow tonight along with freezing rain. That could cause some accumulation and the temperature won’t be above freezing until Wednesday, said National Weather Service spokesman John Moore III in Memphis.

In central Arkansas, there’s a 20 percent chance of a wintry mix and the low will be 27 degrees, also allowing for icy conditions to remain or refreeze. The area is expected to be partly sunny Tuesday with a high of 37 degrees.

Southwest Arkansas continues to be cloudy, but highs are expected to reach the 40s today.

Southeast Arkansas expects a drizzling rain and a high of 43 degrees today, a weather service spokesman said.

Most electric providers in Arkansas anticipated restoring service by 6 p.m. Sunday, but the 10,000 Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. customers in rural areas near Ozark and Mena could be without power until Tuesday.

Across the state by midday Sunday there were just under 13,000 residences or businesses without power. The Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas accounted for most of those, with just less than 6,000 Arkansas Valley and Electric Cooperative customers near Ozark experiencing power failure and a little more than 4,000 Rich Mountain Electric customers near Mena without power.

“We’ve got crews in those areas working as quickly and rapidly as possible,” co-op spokesman Rob Roedel said. “Those areas are very rural and rugged terrain. The restoration is time-consuming.The area is sparsely populated, but hopefully within a short time frame we’ll be energizing the larger pockets of people as quickly as we can. We hope to have everyone restored by Tuesday evening.”

The company hit its peak in power failures Friday with up to 35,000 of its 500,000 Arkansas customers without power.

Entergy Arkansas Inc. also hit its peak Friday when more than 13,000 customers were without power. By midday Sunday, 666 Entergy customers were still in the dark; most of them resided in Pope County. Company spokesman Sally Graham said she estimated all weather-related failures would be restored by 6 p.m. Sunday as long as the customer was capable of receiving power.

Entergy had called in 5,500 additional workers into Arkansas by Thursday night when the rough weather began, but by Sunday just 1,000 linemen were still assigned to the state. The company reaches more customers in Arkansas than any other provider, with 700,000 customers in 63 of the state’s counties.

Southwestern Electric Power Co. had 2,100 Arkansas customers without power midday Sunday, down from a peak of about 14,000 Thursday night. The majority of those customers were in Greenwood, Booneville, Waldron and surrounding areas. Power was expected to be restored by 6 p.m. Sunday to all affected by the storm, a spokesman said. The company had 425 line, tree and support personnel working Sunday.

Oklahoma Gas and Electric reported about 1,100 power failures in the Fort Smith area Sunday morning, according to The Associated Press.

Spokesmen with the city-owned electric providers Conway Corporation and North Little Rock Electric Department could not be reached Sunday.

Vehicle accidents caused by road conditions were minimal in North Little Rock, Police Department spokesman Sgt. Brian Dedrick said.

“We have not had many problems. It seems as most people are staying home,” he said.

Across Pulaski County, the Batesville Pike area had the worst road conditions with a few accidents, sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Carl Minden said. Most were people running off the road, not colliding with another vehicle, he said. There were five roads blocked by vehicles and closed Sunday.

Homeless shelters in Little Rock aren’t turning people away, city spokesman Ben Thielemier said. As of late Saturday the Union Rescue Mission and the Compassion Center had a combined 140 beds available. The shelters are open day and night.

“Our public safety officers are on the lookout for anyone on the streets in need of shelter and will take anyone to these shelters as needed,” Thielemier said. He said city offices will open at noon today.

People can call the nonemergency Police Department phone number to alert the police about someone needing to be picked up and transported to shelter. That number is (501) 371-4829 or (501) 371-4830.

State offices will open two hours later than regularly scheduled, Matt DeCample, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said Sunday.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/09/2013