Arkansas take 2nd punch as storm’s ice follows snow

In north, freezing rain glazes roads, downs power lines

— A winter storm that dumped 4 inches of snow on western Arkansas a day earlier unleashed freezing rain on the northern third of the state Thursday, coating roads and utility lines with a glaze of ice.

Almost 12,000 were without electrical service during the peak of the storm, but utility officials expected power would be mostly restored by late Thursday.

Temperatures hovered around freezing across much of the northern region of the state, causing heavy rains to ice onto trees and cars as well as utility lines.

The National Weather Service issued an ice-storm warning early Thursday for 12 counties in north-central Arkansas, down from 21 counties Wednesday. But by Thursday evening, only Greene and Lawrence counties remained under the warning.

“The temperature stayed right at 32 degrees in some areas,” said weather service meteorologist Julie Lesko of North Little Rock. “If it were a few degrees colder, it could have been a lot worse.”

Ice accumulations ranged from three-quarters of an inch in Batesville to a tenth of an inch in Fayetteville.

In Berryville, more than a half an inch glazed trees, National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Darbysaid. “Carroll County isn’t that far from Fayetteville, but temperatures were colder there, and as a result they got more ice,” Darby said. “Accumulations really depend upon how cold the temperature is.”

Entergy reported nearly 6,500 homes and businesses without power early Thursday evening.

More than 3,000 of those customers lost power in Independence County when trees toppled under the strain of ice, knocking down power lines, Entergy spokesman Julie Munsell said. The state’s largest utility also saw substantial disruptions in Stone and Sharp counties.

In Craighead Electric Cooperative’s service area, about 2,700 homes and businesses also lost power after ice formed on lines.

About 1,500 customers in northern Izard County also took a service hit, spokesman Jerry Estes of North Arkansas Electric Cooperative said. And First Electric Cooperative had about 1,000 customers without power across five counties - primarily in Saline County - the utility said.

Southwestern Electric Power Co., which services northwestern and western Arkansas, showed no power failures early Thursday evening on its website.

Munsell said about 1,000 additional Entergy workers remained on call Thursday in case of widespread failures but they had not been needed.

“We have the people here if we need them,” she said.

“The good news is that we had people ready to go south, too, if any thunderstorms were severe, and that didn’t happen,” she said.

Southern Arkansas did see some thunderstorms, Lesko said. Quarter-size hail fell in Little Rock - which saw rain on and off through most of the day - and 1.75-inch diameter hail pelted Camden.

Firefighters in Garland County said lightning probably caused a house fire west of Hot Springs on Thursday afternoon, said Garland County Office of Emergency Management Director Robert King.

There firefighters were delayed briefly in battling the blaze as the thunderstorm producing heavy lightning continued rolling through the area.

“They were on the roof trying to ventilate the fire when the lightning got so bad they had to come down,” King said.

There were no injuries, hesaid.

The storm formed Wednesday when warm, moist air from the southwest pushed into the state and met cold air. More than 3 inches of snow fell in Northwest Arkansas on Wednesday afternoon, and central Arkansas saw light sleet and freezing rain during the day.

The precipitation continued Thursday, causing school closings and delays across northern Arkansas. Arkansas State University in Jonesboro closed early Thursday. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock opened late. And Arkansas Tech University in Russellville was closed all day.

Three Russellville schoolchildren were slightly injured when a school bus slid off a slick road Wednesday afternoon outside Russellville. A Pope County sheriff’s dispatcher said Thursday that the three were taken to a hospital were fine.

On Thursday, U.S. 65 between Clinton and Harrison was covered in ice, and Arkansas 5 between Mountain Home and Izard County was treacherous, said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the state Highway and Transportation Department.

He said several tractortrailer rigs slid off Interstate 40 near Mayflower in Faulkner County and traffic was slowed by sleet on U.S. 63 between Jonesboro and Walnut Ridge.

The Highway Department experimented with a mixtureof rock salt, sand and water when pre-treating roads near Harrison, Straessle said, and that seemed to help keep ice from accumulating.

Crews sprayed the 23 percent salt brine on roads Wednesday.

“We were encouraged by this,” he said of the results. “We tried that in that district and thought if the results were good, we’d try it in other areas.”

Clinton Mayor Roger Rorie said roads in his Van Buren County town were passable but roads leading in from either direction were slick.

“In Clinton, everybody’s going along well, but if you go north or south of us, it’s real bad,” he said.

Rorie said the city’s Water Department received four emergency generators this week and were prepared to use them if power went out to the town.

“We got all ready to go if we needed them,” he said. “Power lines are weighted down with ice now, and trees are weighted down, but we still have power.”

In Batesville, ice bowed trees that then weighed power lines down, said Independence County Office of Emergency Management Director Glen Willis. A tractor-trailer rig hit a low line on U.S. 167 and knocked out power in that area.

By late Thursday, freezing rain had moved from the area.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/22/2013

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