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Mid-Missouri hit hard by storm
By Matt Franck
POST-DISPATCH JEFFERSON CITY BUREAU
12/02/2006

Highway Patrol shuts

down part of I-70.

JEFFERSON CITY — What some are calling the biggest snowstorm of a generation crippled the Missouri capital Friday, all but shutting down state offices and closing nearly all businesses in the area.

The storm dumped about a foot in Jefferson City, with drifts exceeding 2 feet. But a truer measure of the storm's potency was beneath the powdered snow, where a 1-inch layer of ice made clearing roads a chore.


The ice sheet blanketed the city throughout Thursday after hours of falling sleet. The snow followed, in a storm that was punctuated by lightning. By Friday morning, many residents — including thousands of state employees — found themselves snowbound.

Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency in the area Friday, freeing up state buildings, equipment and employees to help local communities. He also has activated the National Guard.

The Missouri Highway Patrol closed a stretch of Interstate 70 in central Missouri early Friday, then reopened it, only to close it down again Friday afternoon and reopen it again later in the evening. The patrol said numerous crashes and stranded vehicles forced the closings.

Technically, state offices remained open Friday. But one building that typically has hundreds of employees was virtually empty by midafternoon.

The Capitol building was also largely vacant, save for a skeleton staff in the governor's office. One tour guide came to work, but no visitors showed up for a tour.

Jessica Robinson, a spokeswoman for Blunt, said the state's hazardous weather policy gave state employees the option of staying home using sick time or vacation time. She, like many others, decided to work from home Friday.

Cole County prosecutor Bill Tackett was among many in Jefferson City who spent hours tackling his driveway Friday morning. Halfway through the task he gave up and hired a passing snowplow.

"That was the best $40 dollars I've spent in my 47 years," he said.

Fatal snowplow crash

One person was killed Thursday night in Boone County when a snowplow blade struck a vehicle on Highway 63, the main artery between Jefferson City and Columbia, according to the patrol. Two passengers suffered serious injuries. The state trooper who responded to the crash then apparently became stranded himself.

On Friday afternoon, traffic crawled along the highway at 25 mph. For the most part, only SUVs braved the road, which was littered with abandoned cars from the night before.

Walter Grace of Jefferson City joined the stranded on Friday afternoon when his small pickup fishtailed into a snowbank. The mishap made him rethink the need to visit his girlfriend in Columbia.

Rescuing Grace was Brandon Shurtz, an ambulance worker who had just completed a 32-hour shift. Throughout Columbia, he said, ambulances could not navigate many roadways. Instead, emergency workers were using their own SUVs and trucks to transport people.

Some Mizzou students responded to the weather as one might expect: They partied.

For many that meant improvising sledding equipment. Colleen Blake, a senior from St. Louis, tried unsuccessfully to propel down a hill on the lid of a storage container.

"We're having a luau party tonight to pretend it's warmer outside," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.