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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1977-02-02, Page 1{ FIRST WITH LOCAL NEWS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1977 Price Per Copy 20 Cents Over 40 area accidents reported by OPP Over 40 accidents have been reported to the Exeter OPP since Thursday, although the detachment officers have been unable to investigate many of them because they just couldn't get cruisers through to the crash scenes. OPP Cpl. Ray Brooks said it would be impossible to estimate the amount of damage in the crashes. He said that fortunately there have only been three minor injuries reported. Several of the situations have been listed as multiple collisions, meaning that three or more vehicles have been involved. On Friday, nine vehicles were in- volved inone accident near the THE WORK MUST GO ON — Adverse weather conditions haven't stopped the progress on the new electrical units in the Zurich arena. Above some last minute installations and are by McKinley com- pleted. photo Fuel running Iow At least two people in the village have been getting up at 5 a.m. these past few days to brave the stormy weather, the snow plow driver and Doug Erb, Zurich representative for Arrow Petroleum. Mr. Erb has been making his rounds to farms out of the village by. -following the snow plows and so far he has managed to keep the people in the area supplied with oil. If the plow can get through, Mr. Erb will deliver the oil but as of Monday things were becom- ing a little more difficult. One family who lives on the 14th west of. Zurich called Mr. Erb to say they needed furnace oil and their road was so blocked they estimated it could take as long as Friday to get it cleared. At last report Mr. Erb had in- formed the family they could use diesel fuel in- their oil furnace and if it was only used for a few days no damage would be done to Community Centre report Due to the weather conditions there will be no list of Communi- ty Centre contributions this week. There are contributions still to come but many of the can- vassers have no way of getting their lists into the Fund-raising Committee. the furnace. Since most farms have a fairly .large supply of diesel fuel available, there should be no problems keeping everyone warm until the storm ends. Most farms using furnace oil carry a three to four week supply in their tanks. Stanley roads "still there" "The Stanley township roads haven't been that bad according to township clerk Mel Graham. Mr. Graham said most of the township roads were open yesterday at some time or other but heavy drifting blocks them up a few hours after the ploughs go through. Mr. Graham said the township will need at least 24 hours of good weather to get the roads cleared and winged back properly, but that length of time will be ex- tended if the weather continues to be stormy. The main problem seems to be the weight of the drifting snow. Winds are blocking the roads with high drifts of heavy snow which makes the job of the snowplows very difficult. In summary Mr. Graham said, "The roads of Stanley township are still there, and as long as you stay off them they are OK!' Kirkton Road on Highway 4. Five of the vehicles in that mix-up subsequently became involved in another accident. Highway 4 has been the scene of the majority of the crashes and on several occasions it was closed down by police. At times it was necessary to close the highway to provide police of- ficers and tow trucks an oppor- tunity to clear the road. Where accidents have oc- curred and the police have been unable to attend, the drivers have been advised to exchange names and then get in touch with police as soon as possible. Another problem plaguing the OPP is the large number of calls from people wanting to know road conditions. Cpl. Brooks ex- plained again that the detach- ment does not have.information about district roads and this in- formation should be garnered from the ministry of transporta- tion and communications. He noted that calls of this nature tie up the OPP telephone lines and they are then not available for people who may be in emergency situations. The OPP had one of their cruisers out of action for over one day. Constable Larry Christiaen was dispatched to in- vestigate a school bus accident south of Crediton on Friday and became snowbound. The officer was picked up on Saturday by another cruiser but the vehicle wasn't dug out until Sunday. Despite repeated warnings about the hazardous driving con- ditions, people still attempted to reach various destinations and many became statistics. Police advised•most people to stay where they were if at all possible. Area CB radio enthusiasts aid- ed in providing traffic informa- tion and road conditions and snowmobilers assisted in check- ing abandoned vehicles to make certain their occupants had managed to get to safety. Home owhers along most roads opened their homes to peo- ple who had become stranded. Police estimate it will be some time before the accident statistics for the blizzard are finally totalled. Zurich ambulance braves storm The Westlake ambulance has been very active throughout the stormy weather of the past few days. As Robert Westlake ex- plained, In weather like this ambulances are used in less than essential cases due to the safety factor. They have brighter lights, sirens, are up higher and are equipped with a radio." At about midnight Sunday night the ambulance was called to the Zurich rest home to make an emergency run to St. Joseph's hospital in London. It took the services of the Huron County plow and some friendly local snowmobilers to get the am- bulance into the rest home due to heavy drifting. At one point even the snow plow was stuck. The ambulance was successful in getting the patient to London, but Mr. Westlake said No. 4 highway was in very bad shape with only one lane open. • Last Friday the ambulance was unable to reach the scene of an accident on No. 4 highway near Brucefield due to weather conditions and the number of cars littering the highway. The victims of the accident were rescued by an ambulance from Seaforth. An example of the ambulance crew "helping out" occurred on Friday when a Zurich resident became stranded in Hensall. As the weather had cleared up somewhat at the time the am- bulance made the trip to Hensel] in short order and were within a mile of Zurich on their return trip when the full force of the storrn hit them and visibility dropped rapidly to nil. Mr. Westlake said it took them close to half an hour to go the last mile as they had to take turns walking in front of the ambulance to make sure they did not go off the road or hit someone. Monday morning the am- bulance was to deliver a patient to Exeter for Dr. Wallace and again faced the dangers of No. 4 highway. Visibility was so poor Mr. Westlake said there was a head-on collision directly in front of the ambulance. Luckily no one was seriously hurt and the am- bulance did make it through to Exeter. Mr. Westlake said the am- bulance radio went continuously last Friday as there were numerous accidents all over the entire area, and people just would not seem to stay off the roads. Snowmobiles used on Hay township roads Residents of Hay township are advised to make use of snow- mobiles where possible and forget trying to drive anywhere according to Hay Township Road Superintendent Karl Haberer. Mr. Haberer said Monday there are no roads clear in the township and with visibility nil and heavy drifting there is no way to get them cleared. The township has been trying to systematically open the roads to allow fuel to be delivered and milk removed from the dairy farms, but the heavy snowfalls and poor to nil visibility are hampering the progress of the opening program. Mr. Haberer said the province has stated it will take a week to get the roads under their jurisdiction back to normal and that is after the storm stops. In Hay township Mr. Haberer says the conditions are just as bad and without the machinery available to the larger areas such as the county and province it will take two weeks of good weather to get the roads back into decent shape. "It's an emergency situation", says Mr. Haberer "and there's nothing we can do about it." No problems for MC Zurich has been "pretty lucky" so far according to PUC manager Charlie Eckel. He says the storm has caused no problems at all with either the water or the hydro in the village as of Monday afternoon, and he hopes the good luck continues. NO SCHOOL AND LOTS OF SNOW -- School children in Zurich haven't had too much school lately as weather conditions forced schools to close. These kids took advantage of the unexpected Psnoowyh oli McKinley have some fun with a snowmobile and caboose. kb►