Published: December 02, 2008 12:14 am         

Winter weather causes problems in Valley

TERRE HAUTE — The season’s first icy blast of winter had cars sliding off roads and traffic crawling on Interstate 70 and other roadways all around Terre Haute on Monday evening.

Witnesses reported several cars were off the highway on U.S. 40 in Clay County while the Indiana State Police reported roads and highways all through the Wabash Valley were ice-covered Monday night.

Police in Vigo and Clay counties were especially busy.

Temperatures fell into the middle 20s by 7 p.m. Monday allowing snow flurries to accumulate on cold surfaces, according to the National Weather Service. This made lightly-traveled roads, overpasses, walkways and ramps slippery, the weather service reported.

The Indiana State Police in Terre Haute reported a high number of accidents beginning around 6 p.m. and lasting steadily until around 8:30. Traffic on I-70 was disrupted by an accident on the Wabash River bridge west of Terre Haute.

Indiana State Police in Putnamville reported weather-related accidents starting around 5 p.m. and continuing until around 8 p.m. Traffic was temporarily slowed on I-70 in Putnam County because semitractors were having a difficult time climbing a hill that had become icy. There were three slide-offs on U.S. 40 in Clay County, a police official said.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Department reported deputies were working several accidents with no end in sight around 9:20 p.m.

The Greene County Sheriff’s Department reported several “black ice”-related accidents, and several motorists slid off the roadways in Parke County, according to the Parke County Sheriff’s Department.

There were no serious accidents reported in Sullivan or Vermillion counties as of about 9:30 p.m.