Gov. Mike Beebe called the state Highway and Transportation Department’s efforts in clearing ice off Interstates 40 and 55 during Sunday’s winter storm “not acceptable,” and said through his spokesman later Wednesday that highway commissioners will meet next week to discuss what went wrong.

Thousands of motorists were stranded on sections of Interstates 55 and 40 in eastern Arkansas on Monday night and Tuesday after scores of tractor-trailers jackknifed on the icy roads and blocked lanes.

The Arkansas National Guard, along with the Arkansas State Police, the American Red Cross and members of the Game and Fish Commission took gasoline, food, blankets and water to those stuck in the backups on I-40 near Forrest City and on I-55 between Blytheville and the Missouri state line.More than 40 Blytheville residents also aided the stranded motorists, walking car to car with food and water.

Beebe acknowledged that heavy sleet may have hampered Highway Department crews’ efforts in clearing the roadways, and he noted that the traffic tie-ups occurred near construction zones. However, pictures dis-played on social media after Sunday’s storm showing Missouri roads clear of ice to the Arkansas line are concerning, he said.

“Our anecdotal evidence and photographs that have been provided to us suggest that other states had a better time, an easier time, of tackling the problem than we apparently did,” the governor said. “So it is not acceptable.

“I mobilized some folks a lot faster than the Highway Department did,” Beebe said. “When I found out that the Highway Department hadn’t sent crews from other areas of the state until 11 or 12 yesterday [daytime Tuesday], I was pretty upset about that. We had [the] National Guard alerted.

“Game and Fish was doing a good job. Obviously, our state troopers were working their fingers to the bone, and we had people pulled in from other areas.”

Highway and Transportation Department Director Scott Bennett was in Northwest Arkansas on Wednesday and was not available to respond to Beebe’s criticism, spokesman Danny Straessle said. However, Straessle said crews began treating roads at noon Sunday as best they could and were hindered by the severity of the weather.

Two areas where Monday’s backups occurred were in construction zones that limited traffic to one eastbound and one westbound lane on I-40 and one northbound and southbound lane on I-55.

“The further north you went, the more ice there was,” Straessle said. “There were long lines of trucks just stopped on I-55. We couldn’t get there and treat the road if it’s a parking lot.”

By Wednesday, interstate traffic in those areas was back on the move, Straessle said.

“Right now, the challenge is the traffic volume on the interstates,” he said. “There’s little or no winter precipitation remaining. We’re just dealing with a large number of motorists.”

Some tractor-trailer drivers had simply pulled off the interstate and slept because they had been operating for as long as federal guidelines would allow, he said.

“We had to wake some of them up today, and they were surprised the traffic block was cleared,” Straessle said. “They were actually blocking the road in some places.”

The National Weather Service in Memphis reported that up to 6 inches of sleet fell Sunday in Mississippi County, along with about 2 inches of snow.

The weather service does not keep records specifically for sleet. Instead, the agency considers it as snowfall. But agency meteorologist J0hn Moore of Memphis said that much accumulation of sleet is very rare.

“It was heavy at times,” he said. “An inch of sleet or more fell an hour. We don’t see that often.”

Craighead, Poinsett and Greene counties all reported 4 inches of sleet Sunday, he said.

Straessle said the heavy accumulation was hard for road crews to clear.

“As soon as we’d get a lane plowed, the other lane would fill up,” he said. “It was insane.”

Beebe said he made allowances for the severity of the weather in northeast Arkansas but has sought a review of efforts.

“It is a relatively flat section of Arkansas,” he said. “It doesn’t have all the hills that the western part of I-40 has, so some of the events were probably beyond people’s control. Some of them weren’t, so we need to find out how they can do a better job next time.”

Forty to 50 members of area Blytheville churches walked along I-55 on Tuesday, handing out bags containing fruit, water, potato chips and sandwiches to stopped motorists.

“We saw a line of trucks stretched out for a 10-mile spread,” said Bebe Gillespie, director of Healing in the Hood of Blytheville. Gillespie’s organization provides aid to Mississippi County residents.

“We had people making up bags, and we brought them to those stranded,” he said. “They were so grateful. One lady from California said she had been stuck on interstates before and had never seen this kind of hospitality.

“It changed my life and my outlook on the Blytheville community,” Gillespie said. “This was a sign that our community is very positive. It was cold, but no one felt the cold until we were finished.”

Traffic was moving smoothly by Wednesday afternoon, said Regina Thompson, a cashier at the Petro truck stop at I-40 and I-55 in West Memphis.

“It’s been packed in here since the weather came in Sunday,” she said. “There was ice everywhere. It normally takes me two minutes to get home, but it took two hours on Sunday night.”

As roads cleared and temperatures rose, the remaining ice caused problems for several structures. A roof laden with thick ice collapsed on three motorists at the J&P Market on U.S. 77 in Marion on Wednesday afternoon. P0lice said three people were injured.

“It fell all at once,” said Callie Cummings, an employee of Pearson Insurance of Marion, which is across U.S. 77 from the convenience store. “I thought an 18-wheeler hit it. All of a sudden, I saw a bunch of people running around.”

Police in Jonesboro said a storefront awning over several businesses on East Nettleton toppled Tuesday. And in Hoxie, five of nine greenhouses at Taylor’s Greenhouse and Nursery collapsed under the weight of melting ice. There were no injuries.

Temperatures rose above freezing across the state Wednesday and are expected to climb into the upper 50s in northern Arkansas and the mid-60s in the central and southern regions by Friday.

National Weather Service forecasters called for a slight chance of rain changing to snow early today, said meteorologist Sean Clarke of North Little Rock. Freezing fog also was forecast, he said.

“The fog is typical with a snowpack if the winds are calm and the surface temperature is at freezing,” he said.

The fog caps off a bizarre week of weather, he said, that began Friday with sleet falling in 50-degree weather and followed with thunder, lightning and sleet on Sunday.

Electric-utility crews took advantage of the calmer weather Wednesday and restored most of the downed power lines.

Entergy Arkansas reported it had restored power to all but about 2,000 customers by Wednesday evening, with 1,200 of those in Crittenden County.

Rob Roedel, spokesman for Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, said workers had power back on to all but about 200 customers in Lepanto and Widener. At the storm’s peak, 8,500 cooperative customers were without power, he said.

“We had freezing rain that broke poles and lines, and winds to deal with,” Roedel said.

“[Baseball] pitchers and catchers came to spring training a few weeks ago,” he added. “Our linemen are ready for their spring training to start.”

Monty Williams, a spokesman for Craighead Electric Cooperative, said he expected all customers of his system to have had power restored by Wednesday evening.

“It’s been a rough winter,” he said. “We lost 40 poles. This is the fourth storm this year for us. Our guys have gotten a lot of experience, but it’s the kind of experience you don’t really want to get.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/06/2014