Sleet, ice cover Cape and surrounding areas

The first part of a winter storm that blanketed Southeast Missouri with a mixture of sleet and ice Tuesday morning created a hazardous commute, closed down schools and government offices and left several hundred people south of Cape Girardeau without power.

Don Schuette, director of Jackson's electric utilities, said no outages were reported by the city's customers. He kept watch well into Tuesday evening hoping the storm would bring more sleet and snow than freezing rain.

"Sleet doesn't bother us. It won't stick. Snow just blows off," he said. "Once you get freezing rain, if it starts building up, you get problems."

Cheryl Klueppel, executive director of Southeast Missouri chapter of the American Red Cross, said that while four shelters had been opened in Pemiscot, New Madrid and Scott Counties, none was needed in Cape Girardeau.

A winter storm warning will remain in effect until noon today. The National Weather Service predicted 3 to 6 inches of sleet between midnight Tuesday and noon today.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.comCrews clear the West Park Mall parking lot Tuesday morning.

Ice-encrusted roads made getting to work early Tuesday morning difficult, commuters said.

Though she didn't see many accidents, Kerri Dodd, 26, described her drive to work at the BP convenience store in Cape Girardeau from her Jackson home as "scary."

"People were flying around me, and it was dark," Dodd said.

Despite the slick roads, the BP had a steady stream of 20 to 25 customers by 7:20 a.m. Tuesday, including most of the gas station and convenience store's "regulars."

Greg Bollinger, who lives between Thebes and Olive Branch, Ill., stopped at the BP to fuel up, only to find his gas cap cover frozen solid.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.comTraffic along William near Kingshighway Tuesday morning in Cape Girardeau.

Bollinger, an electrician at Southeast Missouri Hospital, had to pass on the fuel until he could get to work and de-ice the cover.

Bollinger said getting to Cape Girardeau was a challenge Tuesday because he lives "off the beaten path," and Southern Illinois' Highway 3 was covered with ice and slush.

When Rod Stallard, a truck driver for Sysco Food Services, started his day at 3 a.m., only to find it impossible to get his car out of the driveway of his Marquand, Mo., home.

Once he found a way to work, he discovered his truck's trailer brakes had frozen, he said.

By the first of his 16 stops Tuesday, he was 90 minutes behind schedule.

In Scott City, three people were working from early to late morning to clear the parking lot outside Baker Service Center and Auto Sales, an auto repair and sales shop on Main Street.

Robert Turner said the shop had already towed five or six stuck or wrecked cars by 10 a.m. Tuesday and expected a busy day for its crew of five wreckers.

In Cape Girardeau, road crews used more than 200 tons of rock salt and fitted snow plows with metal blades rather than rubber ones to scrape the ice from city streets, said traffic operation manager Robert Kutak.

"I noticed a lot of people were not going to work and school this morning, which created less volume of traffic and made our job easier," he said.

Kutak expected all roads to be completely cleared by rush hour today.

Despite the road conditions, as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Scott County still had more than 600 without power, and warming centers established in Sikeston, Lilbourn and Dexter were converted to overnight shelters, according to the Red Cross.

Two shelters in Scott County -- Miner Baptist Church in Sikeston and the VFW hall in Scott City -- were established early in the day. The Sikeston shelter was activated, but the Scott City shelter wasn't. Another shelter at First Baptist Church in Sikeston was opened for residents without power, said Scott County emergency operations director Joel Evans.

"We've done great so far," Evans said. "But it remains to be seen what Mother Nature brings in the next day or so."

Despite the icy conditions, the early part of the day only saw relatively minor accidents. Public safety agencies reported responding to more calls of fallen power lines and vehicles stuck in the slush than wrecks.

Sgt. Jason Selzer, spokesman for the Cape Girardeau Police Department, said about 15 traffic crashes occurred from 5 p.m. Monday to Tuesday afternoon, though none of the accidents resulted in injuries. Police also assisted numerous cars stuck in ditches throughout the city.

The storm was unusual in that it seemed to strike in pockets, some stretches of road choked with ice and sleet while others remained relatively clear, said Keith Denter, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

MoDOT's road crews, a bevy of trucks and one grader prowled state roads Monday night into Tuesday trying to clear the wintry mix, Denter said.

In Alexander County, Ill., main roads were slick and hazardous, and secondary roads were even worse, said chief deputy Steve Thomas with the Alexander County Sheriff's Department.

Except for one accident near Gale, Ill., in which a vehicle slid off the road and the driver left it, deciding to walk home instead, not many wrecks were reported, Thomas said.

"People are taking our advice and staying home," he said.

By the lunch hour, more people began to venture out, and several minor accidents were reported in the region from Butler to Cape Girardeau counties between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., a Missouri State Highway Patrol dispatcher said.

Matt Sanders, Brian Blackwell, Peg McNichol and Rudi Keller contributed to this report.

January ice storm

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