Hazardous Road Conditons

Many people got trapped driving in some dangerous weather conditions early this morning.

Sheriff Matt Lutz issued a level three snow emergency this morning until about noon, and at that time it dropped to a level 1 until all back roads were cleared off. A level three snow emergency means that all roads are closed to non-emergency personnel and no one should be on the roads unless it is absolutely necessary. Sheriff Lutz says they only call level three snow emergencies under certain circumstances.

"We don’t try to go to a level three, you know, since I’ve been sheriff for about 6 years, it’s always been a controversy about when we go to a level three because you know, you’re asking businesses to shut down and you’re taking money out of those peoples pockets and you know, people have a lot of plans and that they try to go, but today it was strictly for safety."

Lutz says a level three helps to eliminate traffic on roads so emergency personnel can clear the roadways and help those who need to be helped.

"When I got involved, at about 8 o’clock, we had about 20-25 accidents waiting, that had been reported. Our guys were getting stuck going to calls, and then while those accidents had roads blocked we were getting other cars piling into those."

The level one has been cleared. To get further weather updates you can text whiz to 88474.