Norman — It seemed that Norman was spared the worst of this latest round of snow and ice that contributed to accidents that shut down traffic arteries to the north in Oklahoma City.
Then night came, snow fell with more gusto, the streets got slick and calls started coming in to the Norman Police Department and Fire Department.
When it started to get dark, the Norman Police Department immediately responded to four accidents, Lt. Lance Arnold said.
By 8:10 p.m., the department had implemented their slick-streets policy, which means officers will not respond to property-damage-only accidents. Arnold said if the officers responded to every collision, it could easily overpower their resources, pulling people away from injury accidents.
Within an hour after the policy was implemented, the department had responded to one injury accident east of the intersection of Tecumseh Road and Porter Avenue.
“There’s not very much traffic out,” said Arnold, who added that most accidents were occurring on bridges and overpasses.
Capt. K.C. Day with the Norman Fire Department said they responded to three calls by 9:30 p.m. The first took place on an Interstate 35 northbound bridge, the next at West Tecumseh Road and Charleston Street and the last at West Tecumseh Road and I-35. Two accidents resulted in injuries.
As is common in winter weather situations where alarms are somehow triggered, the department also responded to three false fire alarms, Day said.
OG&E reported crews were working to restore power to 61 outages in Norman owing to a failed transformer. OG&E spokesperson Brian Alford said the failed transformer was possibly related to the weather, but wasn’t certain.
The culprit of all this, the snow, which fell through the day and into the night, is expected to taper off by late this morning as the storm heads east, said Ken Gallant with the National Weather Center in Norman.
Still, a winter storm advisory will stay in effect until 7 p.m. today, Gallant said. Temperatures will remain chilly, with the high hovering in the upper 30s.
Snowfall wasn’t quite as heavy as originally expected Saturday during the day, measuring an inch by 6:30 p.m. Winds, however, met the expectations of forecasters, blowing at 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. The wind is expected to remain strong today, Gallant said.
Although prepped and ready to go, the city of Norman did not have to use much of the 4,000 tons of sand and 2,000 to 3,000 tons of salt set aside in case the storm turned dangerous.
Greg Hall, the city’s street superintendent, said salt was only applied to bridges and overpasses throughout the day Saturday.
“So far, it’s doing somewhat what we expected,” Hall said, adding that the warm ground temperature kept the roads from becoming more treacherous.
Hall said workers would remain on standby until he determines there is no longer a danger to Norman residents.
Aaron Wright 366-3533 pop@normantranscript.com
