County maintenance employee Chris Grines uses a snowblower to clear the sidewalks in front of the Brown County Courthouse on Feb. 4 following a winter storm that brought a thick layer of ice and more than 5 inches of snow to parts of the county.
Stay home and off the roads. That was the message residents received as the winter storm hit home last week, bringing ice and inches of snow.
In total, 5 inches of snow fell across the county with a couple of localized areas receiving closer to 6 inches, according to Brown County Emergency Management Agency.
The northern part of the county, particularly the Cordry-Sweetwater lakes area, received more snow while the southeastern part of the county received less snow and more ice, EMA Director Susan Armstrong said on Feb. 4 after the storm had moved out of the county.
At least a tenth of inch of ice was on the ground a few hours before the snow fell in Brown and surrounding counties. Armstrong said a couple of hundred residents had lost power during the storm, but that power company crews worked to get power back quickly. Duke Energy called in 300 additional response workers from out of state to help with their response to outages in the state, according to a press release.
Complicating matters further were warmer temperatures on Feb. 1 and rain on Feb. 2 that prevented county highway crews from spreading sand and salt on the roads ahead of the storm. How much ice and snow the storm would bring to Brown County was also unclear due to the warmer temperatures a day before the storm hit.
Preparing for the unexpected was the theme for this winter storm — the first of the season.
The storm began with freezing rain and sleet late Wednesday, Feb. 2, coating local roads with a layer of ice in the northern part of the county first. The hope was the freezing rain and sleet would stop to allow Brown County Highway Department truck drivers a chance to get out and treat the roads with sand before the round of snow moved through. But that break did not happen, Armstrong said.
Instead the radar showed snow when it was still freezing rain and sleeting.
“It was a really difficult situation for all of us. Even the radar was giving us some oddities,” Armstrong said.
“We should have had a window, and we just never got that window. The crews did a great job of getting out there as soon as they could.”
EMA placed the county in the “red” travel status before 6 a.m. on Feb. 3, meaning residents were directed to refrain from all travel. Many businesses and organizations were closed Feb. 3 and 4. Because of the Brown County Courthouse being closed on Feb. 4, the deadline to file to run for local office with a major political party, candidates had until Feb. 7 at noon to file to run for office locally.
Students were released early from Brown County Schools on Feb. 2. Feb. 3 was an eLearning day and Feb. 4 was a snow that will be made up on Feb. 21.
As of the afternoon of Feb. 4, roads in the town of Nashville and paved roads throughout the county had been plowed at least once. Gravel roads were still snow-covered, Armstrong said.
On the morning of Feb. 7, Highway Superintendent Mike Magner said crews were going to be plowing gravel roads. He said his crew worked XX hours responding to the storm. The county had contracted with drivers to help clear roads using county equipment.
Following the storm, Armstrong said everyone in the county stepped up to help respond to this storm.
“We have a really awesome county here. Everybody just steps up in a situation like this,” she said.
“We had people helping their neighbors out. There are a lot of really positive things that came out of this in that aspect.”
Armstrong said she knows residents will have frustrations because of roads not being completely cleared off yet, but that most of paved roads had been hit at least once by the afternoon of Feb. 4.
Residents listened to directions to stay off the roads during the storm, which also helped crews clearing off roads and first responders who had to be out responding to emergency calls.
“People stayed off the roads. We greatly, as first responders, appreciate everybody staying off of the road. It was a safety thing for the people traveling as much as it is for the responders who had to come if they did wreck. By staying off the road you keep our police safe, EMS safe and fire.”
Armstrong said throughout the storm she was in communication with the six volunteer fire departments here who “were all prepared and ready to step in and do whatever they needed to do to help us dig out.”
“The first responders in this county are truly wonderful when you consider the fire departments are fully volunteered. Most of them had people staged at their stations and getting ready to respond,” she said.
