LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Officials were warning residents in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia to take precautions and stay off the roads after one round of wintry weather hit and another was forecast to start later Monday.
“We already have some accidents on our roadways,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said during a morning news conference. “It is slick and it is dangerous.”
He asked people to limit travel as much as possible at least through Tuesday.
Icy roads Sunday night were bad enough that Kentucky transportation officials pulled salt trucks off secondary roads in eastern Kentucky.
“Our trucks were running into guardrail, sliding into ditch lines, unable to stay on the pavement,” said Darold Slone, snow and ice coordinator for the district.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for central and western areas of Kentucky and Tennessee and an ice storm warning for eastern Kentucky and much of West Virginia. Up to 9 inches of snow is forecast for some areas and others could see up to a half-inch of ice accumulation.
Heavy snowfall of 1-2 inches per hour was expected to begin Monday afternoon, Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett said.
“That’s far in excess of what we can manage on interstates so it’s going to take everyone’s cooperation,” he said.
Road crews were treating and plowing over most of the state, Kentucky Transportation Secretary Jim Gray said. As conditions worsen, crews will focus on priority roadways, he said.
“The national weather forecast is warning that travel will become difficult to impossible by this afternoon and into tonight,” he said, urging people to stay put if possible.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency also urged people to be cautious and to limit travel only to necessary trips as road conditions worsened Monday.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation said impacted roads are being treated and plowed, but there were no major issues as of late morning. Shelters and warming centers were opened in Nashville, Paris, Jackson and Memphis.
In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice said he put the state emergency management division on high alert and urged residents to take precautions if they travel.
“It’s wintertime West Virginia and absolutely you’ve got to take one more level of precaution,” he said. “We’ve had lots of these storms and we’ll get through it. Just be careful.”
Another system on Wednesday night is expected to drop more sleet, snow and freezing rain across the states.
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