Icy patches on roads and bridges, and snow and gusty winds creating poor visibilty caused semi-tractor trailers to jackknife and cars to slide off roads across the state Thursday morning.
In Reno County, Sheriff Randy Henderson reported at 9:25 a.m. that deputies were at an injury accident at F and Burr in Nickerson, and other deputies had responded to a crash at K-61 and Howard in the Arlington area, where a semi jackknifed and a fuel tank came off, causing a gas spill.
Hutchinson police offiers were at a crash scene at 4th and Obee, Henderson said.
A number of stop signs at rural intersections are down, Henderson said. Vehicles unable to stop at intersections slid into the ditches, taking out stop signs.
Schools are closed across the region. In Hutchinson, the high school students were out becasue of parent-teacher conferences, but younger students wee in school, as usual. There were no plans at mid-morning to shorten the school day because radar showed the worst of the storm moving out of the area, according to Hutchinson USD 308.
The Kansas Division of Emergency Management cautioned that a winter storm warning is in effect untill noon Thursday for portions of central Kansas, and a winter weather advisory is in effect until noon for east-central, north-central and northeast Kansas. The heaviest snow should fall mainly west of a Hiawatha-to-Council Grove line, according to a release from the Governor's office.
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