Ice storm shuts down many offices

The ice storm that prompted schools and several government offices to close early Thursday morning had faded into rain by that afternoon.

"By 2 o'clock, the temperatures rose enough that most of the roads were OK," said Taylor County Emergency Management Public Information Coordinator Ronnie Dooley.

With an ice storm warning issued by the National Weather Service at about 8:30 a.m., Taylor County Schools opted to dismiss students at 10 a.m., while Campbellsville Independent dismissed at 11:15 a.m. Kentucky Christian School also dismissed students early.

However, by the time the students were dismissed, Dooley said, roads were already icy.

"We initially were just supposed to get some rain, but the storm shifted. Because of that, the warning was issued a little late, but it was issued a few hours prior to the storm."

Students made it home safely.

"We had no problems," said Taylor County Schools' Transportation Director Sam Graham. "The drivers did one excellent job. Everything went like clockwork."

Graham commended the drivers, bus monitors and school staff for helping get students boarded quickly and home safely.

Campbellsville Independent Schools Transportation Director Donna Gaddis said her drivers reported no problems either.

Campbellsville University officials canceled classes for the remainder of the day Thursday as well as basketball games against Lindsey Wilson College that evening. The Taylor County Courthouse, Taylor County Public Library, Taylor County Health Department, Campbellsville/Taylor County Housing Authority, Campbellsville Water Co. and City Hall also closed.

When rain started to fall Thursday morning, it froze on impact, Dooley said, resulting in about a 1/10-inch-thick layer of ice on roads.

The sudden storm contributed to about 20 traffic collisions during a three-hour span, Dooley said, though none of them were serious.

There were no reports of trees down, power outages or any other damage related to the storm.

The storm warning forced emergency officials to initiate the first One Call Now alert Thursday morning, about six hours before a planned test call was to go out at 2 0'clock.

"We had a lot of positive comments about the One Call Now ice storm warning," Dooley said.

However, Dooley said, there were some delays when the test call went out at 2 p.m.

"The test call went out slower than the alert. The One Call Now computers in Ohio were heavily used that afternoon."

Dooley said many schools had canceled classes and many of those schools use One Call Now.

Another glitch that was discovered was that there are about 2,000 landline numbers that should have been included in the system and were not.

"The One Call Now people are working on that," Dooley said.

Residents can add additional phone numbers to the system. Each household and business can provide up to six additional numbers, including cell phones, complete with area codes. A form is available for printing at www.cknj.com.

Completed forms can be mailed to or dropped off at the Campbellsville/Taylor County E-911 Center at 125 W. Main St., Campbellsville, Ky. 42718 or faxed to 465-8711.

- Staff Writer James Roberts can be reached at 465-8111 Ext. 226 or by e-mail at writer@cknj.com. Comment on this story at www.cknj.com.