County officials say the potential ice storm moving in today isn’t expected to be as bad as the one that wrecked the area in 2009. They said while there may be some power outages and tree damage, things could mostly be back to normal by the weekend.
Andy Ball, Daviess County Emergency Management Agency Director, said county officials have been monitoring the situation for the last few days, including taking part in a call with the National Weather Service office in Paducah.
During the 2009 ice storm, the area was covered in about 1 inch or slightly more of ice.
“We’re not expecting it to be quite that bad … but we’re prepared for the worst,” Ball said. “This shouldn’t be a long-lived event like we saw in 2009. We’ll get through this in hopefully a couple days.”
Ball said the biggest difficulties that the area will face for the next 24-48 hours are the travel impacts. He said when it comes to ice, having a 4-wheel drive doesn’t make much difference because there is no traction.
Mark Brasher, County Engineer, added that county operations crews are doing what they can to prepare, but there’s only so much that can be done prior to an ice storm.
He said they’ve topped off their fuel, have chainsaws ready, and have employees ready to come in for 12-hour shifts to cover all 24 hours of the day.
“We expect the vast majority of the work we’ll be doing is going to be tree removal if (¾ of an inch) of ice does come to fruition. That’s how we’re moving forward unless the forecast changes,” Brasher said.
His message to the public was simple: “If you do not have to be on the road, please do not be.”
Brasher said county crews may have to go out and clear roads and work with utility companies to restore power — and that becomes more difficult with more traffic.
Keith Hurm of the Daviess County Fire Department said they are ready for various calls, but their response times will be slower if there is significant ice accumulation.
He said for anyone using a generator, place it at least 20 feet away from the house, and don’t put it in a basement, near a window, or in an attached garage. He also said to make sure smoke and carbon monoxide detectors have battery backups.
Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly added that people shouldn’t try to help in situations that they aren’t equipped for, and instead should let the first response crews do that.
“We want everybody to ride this storm out in the safest possible manner,” Mattingly said.
While Gov. Andy Beshear issued a state of emergency for the State of Kentucky, the County has not issued such a declaration.
Mattingly emphasized that a state of emergency only means that a government entity can “work around the normal rules” for purchasing and renting equipment, issuing contracts, and spending money. It doesn’t mean people get to stay home from work.
Mattingly said he tries not to declare states of emergency because he wants to be transparent with how tax dollars are spent.
And while it doesn’t mean people can’t travel, Mattingly said it should be clear that the County doesn’t issue those declarations lightly, so citizens should take extra caution when considering whether to get out and where to park their vehicles.
Full comments from county officials from their winter storm briefing on Wednesday can be viewed here.
