The winter storm that struck the Warsaw area Tuesday night brought about a foot of snow and made driving hazardous. There were reported snowfall amounts between 10 and 11 inches, according to Katie Gross, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in North Webster. All area schools closed due to the road conditions, while Kosicuko County Central Dispatch kept busy responding to 911 calls. “In the last 24 hours, we’ve had exactly 100 slide-offs, property damage and personal-injury accidents for all agencies in the county,” according to First Sergeant Chad Hill, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department public information officer. “Most were slide-offs and property damage; the FACT team didn’t have to respond.” Plows were out in force at all hours to combat the snow. “Over half of county roads are passable at this point,” said Randy Roberts, county highway department supervisor. “Crews have been on them since 3:30 this morning. We have 28 trucks on the county roads, which have roughly 1,200 miles of plowing.” The county plows have anywhere between 100 and 150 miles of roads to plow on each route, according to Roberts. “It takes a truck between seven and eight hours to run a route just once.” Trucks then go back over the roads to widen paths. In Warsaw, city streets were more than passable, according to Ron O’Bryant, Warsaw city garage supervisor. The city had all 29 trucks out to clear streets. The State Highway Department could not be reached for comment, but motorists can learn about state traffic conditions, road closures, construction information, and crashes by calling 1-800-261-ROAD (7623).
