Winter storm causes several wrecks, but numbers considered low

A lone vehicle makes it way up Lake Road late Friday evening as city streets were covered in snow. Although the winter weather made driving conditions hazardous, law enforcement officials say the number of wrecks over the weekend was low.

Capt. Joel Deal of the Memphis District of the Tennessee Highway Patrol said troopers worked five accidents over the weekend, with only one of them involving injuries.

Deal said it was a relatively low number considering the hazardous driving conditions.

Capt. Steve Isbell of the Dyersburg Police Department said the DPD only worked eight crashes within the city from 2 a.m. Friday until 8 a.m. Monday.

Isbell said they received 76 calls for service in reference to reports of things such as burglaries and theft during that same period. He noted that number of calls is lower than average.

Dyer County Sheriff Jeff Holt said in the county they had a total of 15 accidents.

"For this kind of weather, 15 wasn't bad," said Holt.

Deal also said troopers worked four wrecks in Lauderdale County with one involving injuries. There were no wrecks in Lake County requiring THP assistance.

As warmer temperatures are melting a lot of the snow and ice, some county roads are still slippery.

Dyer County Road Superintendent Jeff Jones said the county roads that are "hot mixed" paved are looking very good, but the ones that are "tar and chip" paved are giving them trouble. Jones said those type of roads are not as smooth as the hot mixed roads and the graders would easily tear them up.

"One day of grading can cause two months of potholes," said Jones.

Several examples of "tar and chip" roads are: Deal, Rambo, Butler, Beasley and Miller Loop.

Jones said they worked every day since Friday in clearing the roads and were still spreading sand and cinders as of Tuesday afternoon.