Friday, January 08, 1999
SNOW NOTEBOOK
Falls, calls go back up as flakes return
BY MICHAEL D. CLARK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The more snow, the slower the go.
Thursday morning's snowfall that covered Greater Cincinnati roads continued a week of weather delays for schools, businesses and anyone trying to get from point A to point B.
“We're telling people calling for a tow to expect a two- to three-hour delay,” said Dave Hunley of Dave's Auto Care in Springdale. “Normally it takes a half an hour to an hour to get to them.
“We're getting a lot of no-start calls and a lot of people sliding off roads and driveways,” said Mr. Hunley.
Rick Shaffer of Shaffer Plumbing in Fairfield, who has been handling plumbing calls for 25 winters, said customers needing emergency help shouldn't be surprised about delays during winter storms.
“I'm getting a lot of calls for frozen wall pipes,” said Mr. Shaffer.
Amy Frede, spokeswoman for the Cincinnati office of the American Automobile Association, said call volume remains high during this stormy week.
At Cincinnati-area hospitals, it's falls, not calls, that are on the rise.
Thursday's early morning snow brought back up the number of weather-related injuries reported at the hospitals of the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, said spokeswoman Lori Deaton.
She said hospitals reported no deaths, but that 44 injuries caused in some way by snow or ice were reported by early Thursday evening.
“Mostly falls on ice, some car accidents and some sledding injuries,” said Ms. Deaton.
Diane Watkins, supervisor for the city's Highway Maintenance Department, said almost 100 salt trucks and snowplows worked streets Thursday. “We had to pull off residential streets to go back to the primary routes. We still have cold temperatures, so we are having difficulty with plowing on ice,” said Ms. Watkins.
Blood center better off, but hopes for more
Blood drives this week at Cincinnati Financial Corp. and at WCPO-TV Channel 9 have helped ease the shortage at Hoxworth Blood Center, but the blood bank remains concerned about another weekend of bad weather chasing donors away.
Earlier this week, Hoxworth called for more donations to restock dwindling blood supplies, especially type O. People have responded, with more than 450 units given this week by employees at Cincinnati Financial and more than 400 units collected Thursday during the Channel 9 blood drive, said Hoxworth spokeswoman Marsha Terry.
“With the sun coming out (Thursday), roads have been clearing up and people have been coming in,” Ms. Terry said. “We're glad, but we still need to build up a supply for this weekend.”
For information about donating blood, call Hoxworth at 451-0910.
Hamilton police help deliver prescriptions
HAMILTON — If you're sick and can't get to the drugstore because you're snowed in, you're in luck if you live in Hamilton.
The police division is offering a prescription delivery service during declared snow emergencies.
Officers will pick up medications from the pharmacy and take the medicine to citizens' homes.
The service is being offered only from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays because of lack of staff on weekends, said Sgt. Thomas E. Kilgour, department spokesman.
The service is the brainchild of Chief Neil Ferdelman, who realized people with illnesses might have extra difficulty getting their medi cines during the frigid weather, Sgt. Kilgour said.
Police are also planning to assist the local Meals-on-Wheels program with deliveries, Sgt. Kilgour said.
For a prescription delivery, call the police division's public affairs section at 868-5811, Ext. 2007.
Reminder: Call 911 only for emergencies
If a snowplow buried your car, or you want to know the latest highway conditions: Please don't call 911.
Hamilton County and Cincinnati emergency communications managers say their lines have been busy the past few days with people calling 911 for not-quite-emergencies.
“We get calls from people who want us to tell them whether its safe to go to the grocery store,” said Greg Wenz, operations director at the Hamilton County Communications Center.
“We had one person (Thursday) call to get directions from Avondale to Price Hill,” said Pat Cipollone, a supervisor with Cincinnati Police Communications.
The good news: The volume of nonemergency calls has not been high enough to interfere with responding to true emergencies, both spokesmen said.
For complaints about street clearing and road conditions, call your municipal highway or road maintenance department. For weather and traffic information, options include: your local newspaper; television and radio stations; dialing 211 for traffic updates from SmarTraveler; or calling the Talking Yellow Pages — 333-4444, Ext. 2400 — for twice-a-day weather updates.
State roads department adds info to Web site
The Ohio Department of Transportation Thursday upgraded its Web site to let people know what the weather is doing to Ohio roads. It includes major events that slow or detour traffic on Ohio highways. The site is at http://www.dot.state.oh.us
Contributing: Tim Bonfield, Janet Morse, Tanya Albert
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