City digs out from first winter storm

LEE COUNTY – The winter storms that blanketed the area the past week dumped almost a foot of snow in north Lee County with some areas getting as much as 13 inches.
Fort Madison Public Works Director Mark Bousselot said crews have been out on the road in two 12-hour shifts since Monday night keeping Fort Madison’s streets as clean as possible.
“Overall, I’m pretty happy with how we’ve been able to keep up,” Bousselot said Saturday afternoon.
“We’ve had five trucks out on each shift and we’re trying to keep downtown lanes open. I think the plan is to get the snow out of the middle of those roadways tonight or Sunday.”
Downtown Fort Madison has two open lanes on most roadways east and west, and north and south. The city plows to the middle and then scoops up the middle during the overnight shift.
Lee County Sheriff’ Stacy Weber was out on roads Saturday afternoon and said despite multiple weather-related stalls and accidents the county has been fortunate.
“We’re out here now trying to get a semi off of Hwy. 27 that has stalled, but we have to use three units, because of the visibility and people just aren’t slowing down enough,” Weber said.
“But overall, we’ve been very lucky. We’ve had some minor injuries but nothing serious yet.”
The National Weather Service has issued a wind chill warning from now until Jan. 16 at noon. with dangerously cold wind chills expected. Temperatures with the wind could dip as low as 40 below.
The weather advisory includes a warning to avoid outside activities when possible and make sure to be wearing appropriate clothing including gloves and masks to cover exposed skin.
Northwest winds gusting 35 to 45 mph will continue across the area through the evening, resulting in visibility under ½ mile in light snow and blowing snow.
Hazardous travel conditions will remain in place through the evenings, as a band of light snow moves through.
A winter weather advisory remains in effect for much of the area through midnight. Sunday through Tuesday morning will see dangerously cold temperatures and wind chills with lows staying the 40-below range.
Lee County Emergency Management Coordinator Jason Dinwiddie said the area has been fairly lucky with no large scale emergencies. There was a machine shed fire near Montrose on Friday. Lee County EMS crews responded to close to 40 calls during Friday’s storm.