Starkville, Oktibbeha County try to weather winter storms through impassable roads, hundreds of traffic incidents and limited resources

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Oktibbeha County got some of the worst of the winter storms that have left numerous drivers stranded and caused law enforcement to declare certain roads impassable.

“This is not a normal event that people in the South deal with,” said Oktibbeha County EMA Director Kristen Campanella. “So there’s not a tremendous amount of supplies, such as salt, to cover this entire county.”

That has been the challenge facing emergency officials in Oktibbeha County as they combat the freezing rain and snow that shutdown much of the Golden Triangle. Campanella says area utility companies as well as local road and street departments have been prepping since Saturday but there is only so much they could do. 

“There’s a lot of areas that are shaded with tree cover or whatever reason and those are going to be impassable and then you’ve got those hills that you’re having to deal with,” Campanella said.

She says the county had close to 50 accidents as of 7 p.m. Tuesday night and their office almost had that many reported incidents before noon on Wednesday.

In Starkville, Mayor Lynn Spruill says Reed Road near Highway 182, University Drive and South Montgomery Street were some of the areas that were so icy at one point, that cars were getting stranded. 

“Normally in a tornado-type of event, we can give you a list of roads you can avoid but with this event, it is county-wide,” Campanella said. “So there’s no way possible I can tell you what roads are safe and which roads are not so we just ask everybody just to stay home.” 

Especially since the county will be dealing with yet another wave of snow and sleet.

“The best we’ve got is to put some friction opportunities with the sand on intersections and bridges and that’s what we’ve been doing and that’s what we’ll continue to do,” Spruill said. 

Road conditions in Starkville improved drastically Wednesday afternoon and Spruill says they are going to try and resume city operations Thursday morning, weather permitting. 

“We don’t have the remoteness of the streets and the roads that are out in the county that are perhaps less traveled,” Spruill said. “I have a much denser population that we have to deal with and they have an expectation of city services.” 

However, Oktibbeha County Government offices remain closed and Campanella is not sure when they might reopen.

“We’re doing everything we can do to keep people safe and to keep people informed and I think at this point that’s all we can do,” she said.