WKYT team coverage of arctic weather

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - WKYT’s team winter weather coverage continues Friday.

We have crews throughout our region tracking the impacts of this arctic freeze.

Lexington

In Lexington, crews started treating the roads Thursday night.

They’re doing what they can, but we’re dealing with a lot of ice right now. Officials tell us that it’s just too cold outside. They say a lot of the substances typically used to melt ice, just won’t work.

However, crews are treating icy spots with sand and salt to give them some traction, but they say the best thing people can do right now is to just stay inside.

“Best thing to do: stay home. If you have to go out, go slow. Be deliberate. Accelerate slowly and anticipate breaking so you can actually stop before you need to be stopped,” said Lexington Emergency Management Director John Bobel.

Bobel says, throughout the winter season, you should always keep your gas tank at least half full. Both to make sure you don’t run out of gas and so that extra weight will help with traction.

Bobel says if you’re going to be on the roads, make sure you’re leaving enough room between your car and the car in front of you.

Governor Andy Beshear echoed much of what other officials have been saying during his Friday morning update on the state’s response to the winter weather, urging people to stay home and off the roads. He says that last-minute Christmas shopping isn’t worth risking your life.

Woodford County

There are about 22,000 customers without power across Kentucky.

Woodford County is one of those hard-hit areas, with more than 4,000 outages at one point.

At the height of the storm early Friday morning, Woodford County Emergency Management Director Drew Chandler says there were around 4,600 power outages. So, they opened up warming shelters. However, EMA officials say it looks like most people who lost power have stayed at home.

Chandler says the situation, which deteriorated sharply through the night, is now starting to stabilize, at least as far as the power outages are concerned.

However, Chandler says more people are out on the county’s road than there should be. He says this complicates the jobs of first responders and urges people to stay home if they can.

Franklin County

Crews in Franklin County said their biggest concern right now is the wind and arctic temperatures. They’re telling everyone to stay home unless absolutely necessary.

Franklin County officials said that Thursday night was rough but, all in all, Franklin County pulled through the brunt of this winter storm. However, officials are warning everyone that these conditions aren’t going anywhere soon.

“From 10 o’clock to midnight I’m showing that we had about eight accidents and, through the night, we had 13-ish motorists assists and a lot of those don’t get counted, but that’s definitely ones that they responded to,” said Ray Kinney, Franklin County Emergency Management director. “We’re in pretty good shape for power. The roads are not as, well what we would like, and we’re asking people not to be out, but the temperatures and the wind are still our biggest concern.”

Kinney said the roads are a problem and drivers should stay home if possible.

Crews were out all through the night salting and plowing, but with temperatures this cold, that won’t do much.

“All of the roads across the county are snow and ice covered. We do expect there is going to be snow and ice on the roads at least for the next couple days, three days. Monday, we’re hoping for a warm-up. They have plowed and salted, but salt is not very effective at these temperatures,” Kinney said.

The message from officials is simple: stay home.

Lincoln/ Pulaski County

There was a rude awakening for about 4,000 people in Lincoln County when the power went out at about 4:00 Friday morning.

“That was kind of our fear early on,” said Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Don Gilliam. “We started yesterday making plans as far as sheltering or warming centers in case the need arose.”

So far, it didn’t, as most power was restored by Friday morning. Emergency management officials in Lincoln and Pulaski Counties reported no major issues throughout most of the daytime hours. Still, Gilliam says there were plans to open up 18 warming centers if needed.

“To be honest, in the last several years very few people have responded to warming or cooling centers. Which is a good thing. But we still have them available just in case something happens,” said Gilliam.

Pulaski County opened up two warming centers, and by Friday afternoon, a handful took advantage of one at New Life Church in Ferguson.

“If you are homeless or if you are at home and your electric goes out or what have you. If you lost heat, it will take hours to warm your house back up,” said Bobby Loveless of the New Life Church.

People can stay and partake in donated meals and snacks. Shelter volunteers had hoped there would be more in these chairs and cots.

“We definitely want to get it out. They are welcome here, and we are here if they need a place to stay warm,” said Loveless.

Lincoln County officials say the best advice is to stay home. You may try to get out only to find the businesses closed, and your trip was a wasted effort.

Inter-County Energy had about 30 to 35 linemen working to restore power and still had a little less than 300 without power as of late Friday afternoon.

Scott County

In Scott County, it’s been a struggle for emergency crews to catch up with the road conditions.

The county’s Director of Emergency Management, Michael Hennigan, has been answering calls all day. With rarely any quiet moments, he’s sending out personnel to respond to all situations.

“The citizens started to get mobile around five, six, this morning. We started experiencing a whole lot of traffic collisions, a whole lot of slide off and things,” said Hennigan.

Plows were out on the roads, even helping people stuck in the snow drift.

“Just talked to the county fire chief, and he advised that Newtown Pike has 3-foot high snow drifts on it between Cynthiana Road and Paris Pike, Hennigan said.

Normally, he says that would be impassable. However, he assures people they are there to help, regardless of time, place, or frigid temperatures.

Although they are responding to calls as quickly as possible, they say they don’t expect these road conditions to change tonight or throughout the weekend.

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