MANSFIELD — Richland County’s road conditions improved Friday morning to the point Sheriff Steve Sheldon upgraded the snow emergency to Level 2.
Many government offices and businesses remain closed, however, due to the winter storm that dumped up to 12 inches of snow across some sections of Richland County as of 7 a.m. Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Those conditions were exacerbated by accompanying gusty winds that created a great deal of blowing and drifting.
City of Mansfield offices and Richland County offices are closed on Friday and there is no Richland County Transit bus service. Officials recommend calling ahead to a business, office or event before heading out to make sure it’s open.
A Level 2 snow emergency means, “roadways are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow. Roads may also be very icy. Only those who feel it is necessary to drive should be out on the roads. Contact your employer to see if you should report to work. Motorists should use extreme caution.”
The Level 3 issued late Thursday afternoon, the first in Sheldon’s 18 years as sheriff, meant all roads were closed except for emergency personnel. It’s likely that was the first such designation in Richland County since the 1990s.
Richland County EMA Director Joe Petrycki said he drove roads throughout the county on Friday morning. “Overall, things are improved a little bit,” he said.
He said the majority of main thoroughfares in the county are cleared of snow.
“But the roads are still kind of slick due to the packed ice from the freezing rain we have Wednesday night that came before the snow began,” Petrycki said. “It kind of got packed down more due to the plowing efforts.”
The EMA chief said county Engineer Adam Gove reported all county roads were passable, most with 1 1/2 lanes open.
“Adam said the county will have crews out working throughout the day to get roads fully open and I think ODOT is pretty much the same way,” Petrycki said.
He said the northern part of the county was in a bit worse condition than the south due to the drifting and blowing snow. A winter weather advisory issued by the National Weather Service office in Cleveland was scheduled to end at noon on Friday.
Petrycki said there were no major accidents or power outages reported during the storm, which was dumping as much as an inch of snow per hour at times on Thursday.
“We did have a tractor-trailer overturn on U.S. 30 near the rest area in the westbound lanes around 4 p.m. on Thursday,” he said. “But the impact was minimal. They got it turned upright and towed out in a couple of hours.
“There were some accidents, but nothing major to my knowledge occured,” he said.
The change to Level 2 is not an “all-clear signal.”
“If you do have to go out, take it slow,” Petrycki said.
