Snow, wind, ice and fun for some
School district, county offices close due to snow
By JEREMIAH O’HAGAN Staff Reporter
Top, Steve Wilson, director of environmental services at Warm Beach Senior Center, shovels the sidewalk. Below, Kyle Mcilirth snags some air off a jump he built with his friends last week.
PHOTO BY KELLY RUHOFF Last week’s storm was bigger than expected, dumping 14 inches of snow in Olympia, about 10 inches in Stanwood and shattering a five and a half decade-old record at Sea Tac: since 1954, 2.9 inches has been the number to beat; last Wednesday, 6.8 inches were recorded.
At first, it was fun and games, a day off from school and a trip to the local sledding hill. But as the week dragged on, the weather seemed to wear people out.
Statewide, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) activated to phase III and Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) crews worked around the clock to treat and plow roadways.
In Snohomish County, road crews alternated 12-hour shifts to keep 37 plows and sanding trucks and three graders operating full-time. Road crews gave priority to the most heavily traveled roads
PHOTO BY JEREMIAH OHAGAN | STANWOOD/CAMANO NEWS By Wednesday, more than 8,000 miles of roadway had been cleared and 2,700 tons of sand scattered; by the end of the week, more than 15,000 miles of roadway had been plowed and more than 4,000 tons of sand and salt had been laid down.
“Snohomish County crews have done an excellent job keeping roads cleared,” said Aaron Reardon, county executive.
“Crews dealt with a full range of weather: snow, freezing rain and sleet, along with downed trees,” said Christopher Schwarzen, spokesman for the county.
Island County crews also worked 24 hours a day last week, clearing roads on Camano and Whidbey islands.
Connie Bowers, assistant county engineer with Island County Public Works, said the Whidbey and Camano road shops each have four trucks that can plow and/or sand, depending on the need.
“I think we need to give a big hand to the driving public, too,” Bowers said. “They stayed home and made things easier.”
Stanwood-Camano School District closed its schools all week. After celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day last Monday, the district shut down Tuesday through Friday due to snow and weather conditions.
Stanwood City Hall closed at 3 p.m. on Tuesday and didn’t reopen until 11 a.m. Friday.
Meanwhile, the city’s public works crews were pulling 12-hour shifts to keep things moving around town.
The county offices on Camano closed Tuesday, and meetings at the Whidbey Island offices in Coupeville were canceled and rescheduled.
Even the Sno-Isle Library System shut down on Thursday.
The rain and wind that arrived later in the week snapped trees, downed power lines and left 277,000 Puget Sound-area customers without power. About 250,000 of those were Puget Sound Energy customers, which also serves Whidbey Island.
Snohomish County PUD, which serves Stanwood and Camano Island, tallied 11,500 customers without power as of Thursday night.
Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kevin Prentiss said the inclement weather kept deputies busy.
Last week, deputies responded to 112 traffic accidents and 320 traffic hazards in unincorporated areas of the county, Prentiss said.
Washington State Patrol troopers responded to 2,317 incidents in the 24-hour period that ended 9 a.m. Thursday morning, more than four times as many as the same day last year.
“Our maintenance workers and State Patrol troopers truly are partners in situations like the one we have faced this week when heavy snowfalls and ice made our roadways difficult to travel,” said state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond. “I want to personally thank all the men and women who have been working around the clock to make our highways as safe as possible.”
