GIBSON COUNTY, Ind. (WEHT) – The Tri-State is still dealing with the aftermath of the latest round of icy weather. Last night, sleet and freezing rain coated the roads, causing dozens of slide-offs and crashes. One area hit hard was Gibson County.
Gibson County Sheriff Bruce Vanoven says road conditions began going downhill around six last night, as he was coming back from a meeting in Oakland City.
“The roads just turned to ice,” he says.
Between six last night and this afternoon, Sheriff Vanoven says they responded to over 25 slide-offs, over 40 personal injury accidents and more than 10 property damage accidents. When responding to one of the crashes, Vanoven says he almost slid off the road.
“I looked up and saw that one of my deputies had the road blocked, pulling a vehicle out. I turned around and I was trying to get to the personal injury accident I was getting to and hit black ice,” he says.
The amount of calls overwhelmed first responders last night. At one point, Vanoven says Gibson County ran out of ambulances to send. So they had to ask surrounding counties to help.
“We have four, maybe five ambulance on a good day. We get people transferred for accidents, but we also have people who have cardiac issues. If you think about the medical you could have, that was also going on at the same time. So they were busy,” he syas.
It was also a busy night for tow truck companies and wreckers. Brian Sullivan is the co-owner of Sully’s Towing and Recovery Inc. He says last night’s ice made it challenging to get vehicles out.
“The hard part in this type of weather is us being able anchor the vehicle to get it out,” Sullivan says.
Last night, Sullivan says they had six guys working and answered over 30 calls.
Sheriff Vanoven says the main roads are in good shape, but passing lanes, bridges, and side roads are still slick. He says to slow down and use caution in those areas.
