‘It was crazy' after snow storm hit parts of Oklahoma
‘It was crazy' after snow storm hit parts of Oklahoma
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By Johnny Johnson
Published: March 7, 2008
DURANT — As a longtime wrecker service owner, Gary Spoon has seen a lot of crazy weather and accidents in his day, but he hasn't seen anything like Thursday's snowstorm since 2000.
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Not a typical day
Durant doesn't typically get much snowfall, but when that snow is coming down at near-whiteout conditions, Spoon said, things can get hectic.
The weather was so bad that both the Durant Police Department and the Bryan County Sheriff's Office sent all non-essential personnel home for the day.
A police dispatcher, who identified himself only by the last name Houston, said the phones had been ringing off the hook.
"It's very bad,” he said. "Most of our major roads were blocked off, trucks have been sliding, and jackknifing ... getting stuck on roads, and some cars can't get up hills.”
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported similar conditions with a quarter-mile to a half-mile visibility at times in Atoka,
Choctaw,
Marshall and Pushmataha counties.
The patrol closed State Highway 91 in Achille due to stalled vehicles at a creek bottom bridge — an area that Max Vail, owner of Max's Wrecker service, knows well.
Achille has a population of about 300, Vail said, so when he's called to 40 tows in a period of four hours, Vail said, that's a pretty big deal.
Related Topics:
Weather, Winter Weather
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