Blizzard conditions last week plague Adair County

The worst blizzard conditions in recent memory plagued travel for many in Adair County and the surrounding area Tuesday night into Wednesday of last week, canceling school and shutting the doors of many businesses.

An intense low pressure system brought strong winds and blizzard conditions to central and western Iowa. Once rain transitioned to snowfall late Tuesday and into Wednesday, wind gusts of up to 68 mph created whiteout conditions in many areas, the National Weather Service says. This made travel nearly impossible, with multiple interstates and highways being closed due to blowing an drifting snow.

One of the interstates closed was Interstate 80 from Jordan Creek Parkway in West Des Moines to Avoca at mile marker 40. This led to semi truck traffic increasing Wednesday in communities like Fontanelle and Greenfield.

The Iowa State Patrol reported that there were 68 crashes from Tuesday night into Wednesday, including a pileup on Interstate 35 north of Des Moines, as well as numerous wrecks on Interstate 80.

Parts of many area communities were without electricity for varying lengths of time as power crews worked to get the lights back on, fighting against the harsh elements.

Farmers Electric Cooperative CEO Holi Weston said that at one point, the REC had 1,400 members without power. They were out late Tuesday and called back in at 3 a.m. Wednesday due to safety concerns and the fact that they were “fighting a losing battle because of the wind and the roads,” Weston said.

“Around 6 a.m. Wednesday they went back out. All power was restored on Wednesday around 5 p.m. There were farmers and county maintainers helping to clear the roads. There were multiple roads that had to be walked rather than driven down to find issues,” Weston said. “It was a long 20 hours and our guys never like to have members without power, but we always consider their safety first.”

Once REC crews had been helped and visibility improved, Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman stated that plows focused on opening paved roads first, then rock roads.

“The rock roads were challenging due to the fact that they were not frozen. In the afternoon, snowfall quit and conditions improved tremendously,” Kauffman said. He said unlike last year’s two January storms that brought heavy snow, extreme cold temperatures were not as much a factor with this storm.

Greenfield Fire Department was called Wednesday afternoon to assist Winterset firefighters at a house fire on Highway 92 just over the Madison County line. Fire Chief Curtis Vry said that due to the soft ground, their 3,000-gallon pumper/tanker truck got stuck in the mud while there. Otherwise, their biggest challenge in fighting that fire was increased traffic on the highway because of the interstate still being impassable.

During the overnight and into early Wednesday, many farmers, some who are in the middle of birthing season for their animals, expressed challenges in doing normal farm tasks because of the blowing snow leading to limited-to-no visibility.

When the storm was complete, yards in town were very indicative of a blizzard as grass showed in one spot and another contained drifting.

Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Jeremy Cooper said his biggest frustration was the number of stranded motorists he and others had to rescue in the storm. He said he understands some people need to be out but he wishes more people would heed warnings. There were also three DOT snowplows that went into the ditch in Guthrie County.

“When you’ve DOT trucks in the ditches we’ve got problems. People who didn’t need to be out were out and about. It forced a lot of our first responder services, law enforcement officers and myself to rescue people from their vehicles. We anticipate some of that, but I I couldn’t believe how many people were out on the roadways. That’s pretty concerning to me,” Cooper said. “We’re putting out information about these severe weather conditions well in advance and they need to heed the warnings.”