Recordpub.com - Winter storm causes wrecks, closes offices

Record-Courier staff report

March roared like a lion Friday, with weather emergencies declared, parking bans issued and many school and community activities closed because of the weather.

And the storm is not expected to let up. According to Accuweather.com, strong winds, heavy snows and blizzard-like conditions are expected today, with another 4 to 8 inches of accumulation.

As the afternoon snows worsened Friday, police radios were jammed with calls about cars and trucks sliding off the roads.

Four cars and one truck were involved in two chain-reaction collisions shortly after 7 p.m. Friday near mile marker 187 on the Ohio Turnpike, the Streetsboro Fire Department reported.

Fire Lt. Diana Woolf said a semi-truck headed westbound swerved to avoid a car that began to spin out. The truck collided with the median barriers between the east- and westbound lanes, sending several of the barriers into the eastbound lanes.

Within moments of the first crash, the displaced barriers caused a second crash occurred only 300 yards from the first crash, Woolf said. Two patients were transported with serious injuries and a third with minor injuries, she said.

All lanes of the Turnpike in that area were shut due to the crashes, but were reopened by 8:40 p.m., Woolf said.

The Ravenna Post of the Ohio Highway Patrol reported several cars off the road throughout the county, but no serious incidents as of 8 p.m. Friday, according to a patrol dispatcher.

A jack-knifed semi truck reportedly stopped traffic in front of the Portage County Airport on S.R. 44 in Shalersville Friday afternoon. A U.S. Postal Service vehicle was struck from behind by a motorist on South Diamond Street in Ravenna, while a school bus reportedly slid off Peck Road in Mantua Township before 5 p.m.

It was unknown if the bus had any passengers, but no injuries were reported in any of those incidents.

Sheriffs in Portage and Summit counties declared weather emergencies shortly before 2 p.m. Friday. Portage County Sheriff Duane Kaley issued a Level 2 snow alert, which means roadways are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow. Only those who believe it is necessary to drive should be out on the roads. Employees should contact their employers to see if they should report to work.

Summit County Sheriff Drew Alexander is recommending the same and advises, "If you must be out, drive with extreme caution."

As of 1 p.m., Tallmadge Mayor Christopher Grimm declared a snow emergency within the city. That triggers a parking ban on city streets and limits loading and unloading to three minutes. The parking ban will remain on until 4 p.m. Monday.

The Portage County Title Bureau will be closed today, Clerk of Courts Linda Fankhauser said. And the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles advised customers to check and follow emergency weather declarations before heading to the BMV this weekend.

BMV deputy registrar locations will stay open during Level 1 and 2 snow emergencies, but will close under a Level 3 snow emergency. Closures will be listed as the occur on the BMV's Web site: www.ohiobmv.com but the public should expect the BMV to be closed if there is a Level 3 emergency.

Rootstown schools rescheduled the high school play, "Jolly Roger and the Pirate Queen," originally set for Friday and Saturday evenings, due to the weather. The production will be staged at 7 p.m. March 14 and 15 instead. The district also canceled all after-school activities Friday, as did the many other school districts, including Waterloo, Southeast and Kent, which also canceled all Saturday activities in the district.

At Kent State University, classes at the Kent campus and all regional campuses were canceled after 3 p.m. Friday and all day Saturday, the university announced. The RED concert, scheduled for Friday evening, also was canceled. The KSU men's wrestling MAC tournament was to continue as scheduled Friday night.

Due to weather conditions, the Body and Beyond student health fair scheduled for today at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and Pharmacy in Rootstown was canceled.

The University of Akron canceled classes at three campuses Friday, and the Wayne and Medina campuses also closed today. The sold-out KSU Golden Flashes versus Akron U Zips men's basketball game was to continue as planned at 6 p.m. Sunday at Rhodes Arena in Akron.

The city of Kent's snow emergency parking ban was implemented at 2 p.m. Friday and will continue until noon Monday. The parking ban was implemented to allow city crews to clear snow and ice from city streets during the storm and to allow sufficient time following the storm to continue snow removal efforts, according to a Kent service department press release. Cars left parked on the street will be ticketed or towed.

Ravenna Service Director Don Kainrad said the city recently got a shipment of salt, but would apply it conservatively when the snow is falling steadily, because road crews are constantly clearing the roads. During the heaviest snowfall, he said, salt would be applied to intersections, hills and curves.

"We have to be very careful how we apply salt, because if not, we could run out," he said.

According to Streetsboro Service Director Bill Miller, the city had 400 to 500 tons of salt to start the day Friday.

"We're just salting intersections, bad curves and hills until the snow is done," Miller said Friday afternoon.

The department has a 10-truck fleet and two 10-man crews which are rotated on and off during heavy storms.

Kent service director Gene Roberts said Kent has plenty of salt and snow-plow trucks are working to keep the roads clear.

"We're not in bad shape," he said. "At the end of the storm, we'll still have 500 tons (of salt) available."

Kent road crews will first plow the primary streets for fire department access, then plow secondary streets while making rounds. Roberts said he expects crews to work nearly non-stop until about noon Sunday.

The city of Stow reportedly ran out of road salt Friday.