By MATT THACKER
With about six inches of snow falling Monday night through midday Tuesday, schools and many government buildings were closed for the day.
While children used the day off to enjoy sledding and building snowmen, police and emergency services personnel were kept busy by slick roads and plenty of accidents.
A semi-truck filled with a load of bricks collided with a van at about 11 a.m., injuring the driver of the van and turning the truck on its side.
Joshua McKinley, 29, of Sellersburg, was turning from West St. Joe Road onto Ind. 60 in Clark County, while the truck being driven by Timothy May, 49, of Loogootee, was traveling westbound on Ind. 60.
The vehicles collided head-on, and the truck was knocked sideways into a yard.
McKinley suffered non-life threatening facial injuries and was diverted from Clark Memorial Hospital to University Hospital in Louisville. May had minor injuries and was treated at the scene.
The bricks had to be cut loose and removed from the truck before a wrecker could move the trailer upright, said Maj. Chuck Adams with the Clark County Sheriff’s Department.
Sgt. Jerry Goodin, of the Indiana State Police, said that between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m., ISP worked numerous slide-offs and multiple personal-injury accidents. Goodin said none of the injuries were serious.
He said most of the accidents occurred between exits 0 and 12 on Interstate 65 and on Interstate 265. Several accidents were also reported on Ind. 62.
U.S. 150 in Floyd County was closed for a short time after a vehicle overturned, and a wrecker had to move the vehicle. No injuries were reported.
The Floyd County Sheriff’s Department had only worked four accidents Tuesday morning, but there were no injuries.
“It’s been pretty good. I think most people are staying in,” Sheriff Darrell Mills said.
The New Albany Police Department worked 10 property-damage accidents on Tuesday morning, but none serious, according to a dispatcher.
The Jeffersonville Police Department reported working about 20 accidents on Tuesday morning. No injuries were reported. A dispatcher for the Clark County police stated that there had been a steady number of accidents, but none serious.
Area schools closed their doors, as well as Indiana University Southeast and Ivy Tech Community College. New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. extracurricular activities and all high school events, including practices at Greater Clark County schools, were canceled Tuesday.
Goodin reported at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday that all roads were extremely slick and covered with ice. By early afternoon, most of the roads were wet with slushy spots.
According to the National Weather Services, temperatures plummeted early afternoon following the snow showers. With temperatures dropping into the upper teens and 20s, authorities warned of wet roads freezing in the evening and overnight.
Jeffersonville Mayor Tom Galligan advised citizens to only travel when necessary. With snowfall continuing for more than 12 hours, plows struggled to keep the roads cleared.
“One of the issues you have with a storm like this is that you plow a street, and an hour later, you have to plow it again,” said Larry Thomas, communications director for the city of Jeffersonville.
Road and weather information is available at TrafficWise.IN.gov or by calling the Indiana State Police Road and Weather Line at 1-800-261-7623 for statewide conditions.
