Winter weather causes few mishaps

DESOTO COUNTY - The first winter storm of 2009 caused few problems in DeSoto County, with only a few minor wrecks and no major power outages reported.

"We've been out since early morning, traveling up and down the roads, and we've seen very few problems," DeSoto County Emergency Management Agency spokesman Chris Austin said Wednesday. "We've had one or two wrecks - nothing serious - and no power outages. The temperatures should rise enough by late afternoon that we shouldn't have any problems."

Ice and snow accumulations up to 1/2 of an inch have been reported in DeSoto County.
The icy precipitation that dusted roads and bridges could refreeze after sundown, and authorities urged motorists to take precautions when driving at night when temperatures were expected to dip back below freezing.

Utility providers were out en force early Wednesday scraping ice off power lines and taking pre-emptive measures.

"We pretty well escaped it," Entergy customer service manager Pat Nelson said. "The freeze line stayed to the north of us. We were prepared for the worst. We had just scattered outages, no more than we typically get with a scattered thunderstorm or two."

Nelson said once the northwest Mississippi region received an all-clear signal from any chance of further inclement weather, Entergy crews would be headed to Arkansas to help restore powers in areas hit hard by the storm that swept through the Mid-South.

DeSoto County Schools and most day care providers were closed Wednesday, but were expected to be open Thursday as temperatures are expected to climb back into the 40s.