Accident along I-30 Christmas afternoon – photo by Jesse Evans (More photos below)
Streets, highways, bridges and overpasses quickly became slick and almost impassable around 3:45 p.m. Christmas afternoon as rainfall changed to sleet very fast, catching many holiday travelers off guard.
There were more than 20 accidents reported in the Hempstead-Nevada County area in a very short period of time, including a six-car pile-up on I-30.
There were so many accidents being reported that some ambulances were reporting new accidents they were spotting while in route to calls.
Every area wrecker service was busy with travelers waiting their turn to get towed out of a ditch. There were a few instances of vehicles overturning while sliding off the roadway.
There were several reports of minor injuries during the afternoon and evening. A woman taking her mother to the emergency room at Wadley Regional Medical Center in Hope reported that the E.R. was packed.
There was little freezing rain during the winter storm in our area and fortunately few local reports of power outages associated with it.
When the sleet changed over to snow, things started getting better. Most roads and highways became passable but bridges and overpasses remained somewhat slick. The overnight low temperatures were expected to make the bridges even more hazardous by morning.
By 1 a.m. all precipitation had ended in our area. Accumulations of three to four inches were being reported in the Hempstead-Nevada County area.
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