By Maggie Downs
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A layer of ice and sleet covered the top of the Serpentine Wall Sunday. (Craig Ruttle photos) | ZOOM |

HOW BAD WAS IT?

How bad were the roads? Did you sail in behind a salt truck? The Enquirer wants to hear about your commute to work this morning. The Tristate is dealing with a wintry mix of ice and snow which has made driving conditions extremely dangerous. Government offices and many schools are closed for the Presidents' Day holiday but offices and businesses are open. E-mail us your interesting story of your trip to work this morning as soon as you can.

Sunday was the icing on the stormy cake.

While central Ohio and points east were pounded with several inches of snow, the Tristate was coated with sheets of ice - in some places a half-inch thick - which downed power lines, caused numerous closings and made road conditions treacherous.

Blame it on a slow-moving storm that's been making its way from Kansas to Tennessee, said National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Coniglio in Wilmington. There's also a strong high-pressure system in the north, near Cleveland.

"When those two combine, it gives us freezing precipitation," Coniglio said.

As the weather worsened, the city shut down. Area closings included Newport Aquarium and Eastgate Mall, as well as most libraries and community events. The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport remained open, but had spotty delays.

Even those praying for an end to the storm had to do it from home. Many churches canceled services, and those that didn't saw a sharp decline in attendance.

"We were probably down 400 people," said Patricia Badkey, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Kenwood, which has a total congregation of 550.

About 12,000 Cinergy customers in Erlanger and Florence lost power before 5 p.m. Sunday. But by 5:30 p.m., 5,000 of those had power restored. The rest were expected to have power by late Sunday night.

In Cincinnati, crews were working 12-hour shifts to spread a combination of salt and calcium chloride, which keeps the salt effective to minus 25 degrees.

Since Jan. 1, the city's Department of Public Services has zipped through 27,388 tons of salt - and that's not even counting Sunday's spread. The department can keep a total of 30,000 tons on hand - and as of Sunday afternoon, 15,000 tons were left. A shipment of 2,000 tons is expected today.

"We're starting to sweat a little bit, but we're not in panic mode yet," said Diana Frey, spokeswoman for the department. "It seems like it's going out as fast as it's coming in."

The weather is also a suspect in the Sunday crash landing of a twin-engine jet in a Taylor Mill, Ky., rail yard. The pilot, Greg Burgess, was headed to Lunken Airport with parts needed at the Beckjord power station in New Richmond.

Burgess lost his left engine around 4 p.m. and began circling in search of a flat spot to land. Then, the right engine stopped working. After putting the plane down at Progress Rail Services, along Decoursey Pike, the 35-year-old pilot was taken to University Hospital. He had no serious injuries.

Not a record

This spate of icy, snowy weather isn't particularly bad, according to experts. The average temperature this winter is running about three degrees below normal, Coniglio said.

"That's cold," he said. "But it's nowhere near a record cold winter."

This portion of the Ohio River has only been slightly affected.

"It's gone up to about 40 feet, but it's not even close to a flood stage," said Joe Heim, 34, a hydrologist with the Ohio River Forecast Center in Wilmington. "Actually, flows in most places have been below normal."

That's good news for David Dalessandro. The city salt truck driver sacrificed his vehicle to the Ohio River Saturday night.

Little is visible of a city salt truck that slipped into the Ohio River | ZOOM |

A dump truck was sent to clear the Public Landing (near the Showboat Majestic), where about 200 cars were parked for Saturday's circus performance at U.S. Bank Arena. Driver Dean Long found it difficult to maneuver on the hill, so a pickup truck was sent as back-up, said Frey, of the Public Services department.

The pickup lost traction and slid toward the river, with the driver's side door facing the water. Driver Dalessandro jumped out of the passenger's side before the vehicle plunged into the Ohio.

"He got out just in time," said Frey.

Still, circus patrons couldn't drive out of the landing. So Long and Dalessandro used buckets and shovels to treat the lot by hand - then continued to work until 7 a.m. Sunday.

Meanwhile, the truck remains in the river. A dive crew found the water level too high for retrieval on Sunday.

Many others also had difficulty with travel.

Tractor-trailer truck driver Harold Carter, 51, of Odessa, Texas, was hauling vehicles to Columbus and Indianapolis when the storm hit. Now he's staying at Stony Ridge Truck Plaza in Monroe and waiting for the roads to clear.

"I'm going to do laundry and camp out and watch the Weather Channel," he said.

His is not an unusual predicament, said John House, 37, food and beverage manager at the truck plaza.

"We're all just about snowed in here," he said. "A good deal of drivers are stuck - people who either can't make their pick-ups or deliveries. They're from Canada all the way to Florida. And right now they're all watching the Daytona 500."

The Drop-Inn Center Shelter House in Over-the-Rhine also exceeded capacity over the weekend. The shelter typically houses 250 people. But Saturday night, about 275 people needed housing, with more expected Sunday night, said director Pat Clifford.

"Even if we are full, we always try to have a bench space - somewhere to get in out of the cold," he said.

The shelter has also had an influx of people who couldn't stay in their own buildings due to frozen pipes.

"We just put up some extra bunks and make do," Clifford said.

The National Weather Service said warmer weather is on the way. The sleet and freezing rain are expected to stop by afternoon, with highs near 30. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday should see low to mid-40s.

E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com