Blizzard bears down on Southeast Iowa

WASHINGTON — Millions of Iowans across the state woke up to a much-anticipated blanket of snow covering every street, sidewalk, lawn and rooftop Tuesday morning, in the midst of a storm experts said was unlike any in the last decade.

Reports published by the National Weather Service station in the Quad Cities showed 2.5 inches of snow in Washington, a low for the area, compared to Fairfield’s 3.5 and New London’s 5 inches as of 7 a.m. Tuesday. Further west, Ottumwa saw almost 6 inches by the same time, while Burlington, to the east, showed a whopping 7 inches by 8 a.m.

"(The) winter storm warning continues throughout today for hazardous and very difficult travel due to … heavy snowfall rates of 1-2+ inches per hour at times throughout the daytime,“ the NWS Quad Cities account said Tuesday morning on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “The most favored locations for numerous hours of these rare, very heavy rates (are) southeast of a Dubuque-to-Ottumwa, Iowa, line.”

While Tuesday morning’s snowfall wasn’t as deep as many expected, Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Marissa Reisen said the winter weather hazards were far from over, and urged commuters to drive slowly, with turned-on headlights and a cautious mindset even after the storm subsides.

She said the problem would go from wet, heavy snow to strong, 30-40 mph wind gusts over the course of the day Jan. 9 and into the 10th. Freezing weather in the following days could make any buildup on tree branches a problem as well, something Reisen said could lead to power outages if it happened in unfortunate enough locations.

“There will be new and different hazards that are coming,” she said. “Once we’re done today, we’re not done … we’ll continue to have risks and issues and all these other fun things that go along with winter in Iowa for at least another week or so.”

Reports of power line damage started coming in Tuesday afternoon, when Brighton residents complained of outages on social media. An email from Alliant Energy confirmed other issues in Fairfield and Washington around the same time. By Wednesday at 10 a.m., the company’s outage map still showed dozens of customers impacted in Washington.

“Crews are working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible,” said an emailed statement from the utility company. “Crews are seeing downed power lines and tree limbs that are getting heavy and contacting overhead lines.”

Locals scrambled to react as the weather bore down across the region.

Schools, libraries and government offices like Washington County Public Health, General Assistance, Veterans Affairs and the Conservation Center announced Tuesday morning that they were out for the day, while all others announced a plan to close at noon. Several area businesses announced their own cancellations, late openings and early closings as well on social media. Many kept their doors closed into Wednesday as well, given ongoing poor road conditions.

In Washington, the post office did not receive mail on Jan. 9. Although it did arrive the following morning, a clerk at the office said lingering poor road conditions may complicate deliveries.

“There will be mail delivery today as long as they’re able to access everywhere they need to get,” she said in a phone call Jan. 10. “But if a road isn’t plowed or it’s a dangerous situation for them to drive, they have the option to not go down that particular road or attempt that delivery.”

Cities, meanwhile, urged residents to remember parking rules during the snowstorm, including Washington, where the local ordinance requires locals to find off-street parking until the snow is cleared, whether they have their own driveway or not.

“The goal of this process is to allow the snowplow operators to work in a safe and efficient manner to clear the streets and your cooperation is appreciated,” Police Chief Jim Lester said in a statement Monday afternoon, anticipating the blizzard. “Residents in the downtown area are reminded of the opt-in text alerting system for residents in the downtown area to receive important reminder text alerts about removing vehicles from the street for snow removal.”

Those interested can register for said alert system by texting WASHIOWAPARKING to 67283 from their cellphone.

Some streets were shut down entirely by the storm. The City of Washington Construction & Maintenance Department said on Facebook Tuesday night that East Filmore and a stretch of East 15th Street between 8th and 12th avenues were closed until further notice, with no updates as of 10 a.m. Wednesday.

For the most part, officials said people were heeding warnings and staying home to wait out the storm. Interim Washington County Ambulance Director Katrina Altenhofen said her department was only taking emergency calls — not routine transfers — during the winter storm warning period, but that few weather-related calls had come in by 10 a.m. Tuesday.

“We only saw a couple of crashes, but we’ve been able to stay even with the calls that have been coming in,” she said. “So keep your fingers crossed that we make it through the rest of this snow event.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com