Three p.m. on Friday afternoon, the winds had whipped up the fallen snow using 40 mph winds.
Posted
Brenda Wade Schmidt
A winter storm closed schools Friday, prevented travel and played a part in an accident with a snowplow in Moody County.
It was the third weekend in a row for bad weather and the most brutal so far this winter.
From Friday through Saturday morning, Flandreau got 6 inches of snow, which blew around because of high winds, causing drifting, poor visibility and closings. Both Flandreau and Colman-Egan schools were closed for the day, as were many Flandreau businesses.
On Interstate 29 about two miles south of the Colman exit, a driver in a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee rear-ended a South Dakota Department of Transportation plow going north, according to the state Department of Public Safety. The plow driver was plowing the driver’s lane about 9:35 a.m. Friday when the accident happened in white-out conditions.
No one was injured and both drivers were wearing their seatbelts. There was minimal damage to the plow, but the Jeep had to be towed from the scene.
A charge is pending against the driver of the Jeep, 37-year-old John Behnke of Sioux Falls.
The Moody County Sheriff’s Office received calls for three accidents without injury and 21 motorist assists Friday through Monday morning, said Sheriff Troy Wellman.
The snow and high winds also caused state officials to close Interstate 29 about 7 p.m. Friday, reopening it Saturday afternoon.
Bitter cold accompanied the storm with a low temperature of 17 degree below zero on Thursday, 16 below on Friday and 11 below Sunday into Monday morning.
Some area churches elected to cancel their Sunday morning services due to parishioners not be able to get out, the road conditions and also the extreme cold.
