Tips to stay safe on the roads during a winter storm
Snow is still falling in Nebraska as this winter storm rips through the state with snowfall expected to continue through Tuesday morning.
By News Channel NebraskaFAIRBURY, Neb. -- Snow is still falling in Nebraska as this winter storm rips through the state with snowfall expected to continue through Tuesday morning.
With road conditions slick due to snow and ice, John McKee, Emergency Manager for Jefferson and Saline Counties recommends that you stay home and limit travel. But if travel is absolutely necessary, he gave us some tips on how to be safer on the road and what to do in the case of being stranded.
“It is recommended that if you do need to travel, make sure you have a charged cell phone, maybe take some non-perishable food with you, candy, candy bars, blankets, in case you get stranded on the road," said McKee. "If you do have to travel, and it is a must, let the people on the other end know when you’re leaving and the route you’re taking so that if you do get stranded, first responders have a place to start looking for you at.”
In residential areas, the roads can be plowed easier and the wind can be blocked by buildings more than on the highway. One of the biggest safety concerns of highway travel during snow storms, is the drifting. With snow and ice building up on the road, it can make highway travel from town to town extremely difficult.
“If you start running into drifts in the road, and they get pretty deep, depending on the vehicle you are driving, try to turn around and go back to where you came and eventually they will get that road open but it would not be good to be stranded out there with the way the temperatures are going to be dropping,” said McKee.
Another big problem of snow storms is the power outages. McKee has already confirmed that there are some outages in Jefferson and Saline Counties already but he can never definitively give a time table for the outages due to snow travel for crews and kinds of outages.
“They can last just a little bit because, remember, the crews have to get out there past all those drifts and if there is any in the deep snow and find the wires and find the break and with visibility it is kinda tough," said McKee. "So it could be anywhere from a short amount of time, but we’ve seen power outages for days.”
McKee said the heavy snow is still to come in southeast Nebraska with heavier snowfall expected to hit after lunch time Monday.