Two Columbus police officers and several citizens were injured in wrecks Thursday and early today as hail, sleet and freezing rain iced roads and bridges in the Golden Triangle.
A mixture of hail and sleet began falling in the Golden Triangle area Thursday afternoon, when a series of wrecks brought Highway 82 traffic to a standstill.
A total of 58 wrecks, some with injuries, and 12 vehicle assists were reported in the city and Lowndes County between 2:47 p.m. Thursday and 8:15 a.m. today, said Lowndes Emergency Management Director Cindy Lawrence.
“We”re Mississippians,” she said. “We don”t know how to drive (in this weather). The problem is that people aren”t paying attention.”
The Lowndes wrecks were among several hundred emergency responders raced to Thursday night and this morning across the Golden Triangle, as slick roads and icy overpasses became treacherous for drivers.
Area schools were closed today as administrators feared running buses over icy roadways. Elsewhere in the state, the weather was blamed for three traffic fatalities.
Havoc on Highway 82
At about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, a surprised Mississippi Department of Transportation was scrambling to spread sand over priority spots along Highway 82 near Columbus.
At one of the bridges east of Military Road, a five-vehicle wreck sent Officers Robert Walker and Rebecca Lomax to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle for minor to moderate injuries.
Walker had pulled over in the westbound lane of Highway 82 to help a woman and her grandson, whose black Jeep Cherokee had collided with an 18-wheeler.
As Walker was at the Cherokee, Brandon Wallace, of Columbus, was crossing the bridge in his 2005 GMC Sierra pickup truck, he said.
“I hit an ice patch and the brakes were just grinding. I couldn”t stop,” Wallace continued.
When he saw the wreck ahead of him, Wallace braked and slid into the Cherokee, “nicking” Walker on the way, he added.
Following him, Lomax crossed the bridge and also slid, causing the right side of her vehicle to slam into his, Wallace said.
Both officers suffered minor injuries, as well as the woman in the Cherokee, who had an injury to her eye, Wallace said. The grandson, the 18-wheeler driver and Wallace were uninjured.
“It could have been tragic,” said police Public Information Officer Terrie Songer. “We were very fortunate.”
After noon, the chance of freezing rain drops significantly, although there is a 30 percent chance of rain before 11 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service forecasts cloudy skies for Saturday, which should have highs near 43 in the day and a low near 26 that night. There will be a 40 percent chance of rain Sunday evening.
Next week, more winter weather is expected. Wednesday night, there is a 50 percent chance of snow for the Columbus area, and a 20 percent chance Thursday with a high near 26.
Starkville deals with highway wrecks
Both eastbound and westbound lanes of Highway 82 in Starkville were closed for more than 90 minutes Thursday evening in Oktibbeha County as several vehicles slid off the road icy roadway.
Trouble started around 5 p.m. on Highway 82 when sleet and freezing rain formed a thin layer of ice on bridges over Ruth Road and Highway 182 in Clayton Village.
“Those bridges, besides being icy, are curved and banked,” Oktibbeha County Fire Services Coordinator Kirk Rosenhan said. Several vehicles slid into each other and slid off the road, including a tractor-trailer, Rosenhan said.
No serious injuries were reported, but the highway was closed from about 5:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Rosenhan said.
Traffic backed up for miles and several vehicles attempted to cross the median, but became stuck.
“We had a backup as far as you could see,” Rosenhan said.
Another wreck occurred on Highway 82 at the Old West Point Road overpass. There, a vehicle slid off road, went down a hill and rolled over. The victim, who Rosenhan did not identify, was transported to OCH Regional Medical Center.
“He had some injuries, but was conscious and not in bad shape,” Rosenhan said.
Rosenhan described the roads as “very slick and very dangerous.” At least five wrecks occurred between Highway 45 Alternate and Clayton Village, he said.
Ice blamed in three Miss. crash deaths
The freezing winter storm was blamed in the deaths of at least three people in Mississippi.
The Mississippi Department on Transportation reported ice on bridges and roads Friday morning in more than half of Mississippi”s 82 counties.
Ed Agre, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, said there were reports of 1/4 inch to 1/3 inch of ice from around Brookhaven to Meridian. Most other areas received lighter coats of ice.
Mississippi Highway Patrol Sgt. Rusty Boyd said two fatal accidents happened Thursday near the same bridge on Interstate 55 south of Hazlehurst.
Boyd said 23-year-old Laurie Nicole Sanders of Hazlehurst died Thursday at little after noon when her south bound Ford Sport Trac hit a patch of ice on I-55 at mile marker 45. Boyd said Sanders was not wearing a seat belt.
Boyd said 75-year-old Konstadinos Dilioglou of Jackson died in an accident near the same spot when the vehicle his daughter was driving hit a patch of ice in the north bound lane about 9:15 p.m.
Jefferson Davis County authorities said another fatal accident happened Thursday in Prentiss when an SUV on U.S. 84 crossed an icy bridge and hit an oncoming log truck. The woman”s name was not released.
Agre said the freezing rain and sleet that had coated bridges would change to rain in most areas by midmorning Friday, and conditions should start improving some after that.
A winter storm warning for many areas expired at 9 a.m.
Staff Writer Tim Pratt and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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