Winter blast dumps heavy snow

Many say the winter ice/snow combo dumped in Marshall County last week was one of the worst in memory.

Leland Reed, emergency management coordinator, thinks it was. It continued several days, keeping most folks home, closing lots of businesses and causing various issues for emergency personnel.

“It was a rough week,” Reed said. “It was a really bad winter blast overall.” A National Weather Service report from Memphis, Tenn., showed snowfall accumulation from 6 a.m. Valentine’s Day through 6 a.m. February 19 was between 8 and 12 inches in Marshall County.

Temperatures stayed well below freezing for five days.

But luckily, there were no serious accidents or mishaps, at least not many. The pipeline rupture Saturday, Feb. 20, probably had the most potential for danger, Reed said. But a well-coordinated response by the sheriff’s department, the Waterford Fire Department and the pipeline company saved the day.

“It was a joint effort,” Reed said. “Everybody did a great job.” He said the entire ordeal was over in six hours. Perry Pipkin, investigator with the sheriff’s department, said the leak was “real, real, real loud and sounded like a jet airplane.” The rupture took place on Jack Thompson Road between Wilson Golden Road and Wilkins Chapel Road.

As many as eight houses were evacuated while the rupture was sealed off.

Reed said the Tennessee Pipeline operated by KinderMorgan, is a 24-inch, 700 psi natural gas line and one of four that courses through the area. The quantity of gas released unintentionally was 48,773 MCF, he said.

Bill Stone, general manager of the Holly Springs Utility Department, said the rupture did not disrupt natural gas service.

Pipkin said it took about one and a half hours to get the natural gas shut off to the area.

Roads were still coated with ice when the pipeline representative arrived.

“When I got there, Waterford Fire Department was there as well as the sheriff and Reed,” Pipkin said.

A troublesome few days on I-22, resulted in some minor accidents. But responsible truckers took it slow on the interstate, Pipkin said.

Around 3 p.m. Thursday several 18-wheelers stalled just west of the Highway 309 overpass in the Byhalia area.

There were numerous stalls during the day around the Victoria and Red Banks areas as well.

At one point, westbound traffic was detoured off at the Red Banks exit onto Highway 178 toward Victoria, and some 18-wheelers stalled again.

“We had more problems out of the westbound traffic,” he said. “Most were trucks.” Heavy wreckers helped pull big trucks off the ice and get them rolling again.

“We stayed busy, but as far as major problems, we didn’t have any,” Pipkin said.

Investigators fanned out over the roads and highways in their four-wheel drive pickups, according to sheriff Kenny Dickerson. Deputy’s Charger squad cars were no match for the ice, he said, and their response times were slower.

Kelly McMillen, David Cook, Pipkin and others helped keep the newspaper staff informed of the winter weather incidents through text messages, which were in turn posted on social media. They also sent photos.

“We were real, real, real lucky we had no major wrecks or injuries,” Dickerson said.

Another problem was the collapse of roofs, especially farm shops and animal barns.

Reed said properties affected included a structure at Woods Farm Supply, a farm shed on Keith Taylor’s property, two structures owned by Junior Britt, a breezeway at Jim Tuttle’s house, the cover of equipment at Steve Tharp’s farm (the old Curtis Gurley Farm), a collapse of a structure owned by Glenn Humphreys off Temperance Hill near Potts Camp, and a shelter collapse at Ron Rhea’s farm.

Sheriff’s investigators responded to the collapse of a horse barn Thursday around 8:30 a.m. At Wall Hill Road on Junior Britt’s property. One horse was killed and a second one critically injured that had to be euthanized, according to the sheriff. Three other horses escaped injury.

Dickerson said the various structure collapses were due to the immense weight of the snow and ice that accumulated on the roofs.

Those assisting with the horse barn collapse included Pipkin, Kelly McMillen, LaDaryl Odum, Charles Powell, Grant Glover, Jason Mills, Kelvin Reynolds and Reed.

In a winter storm update Wednesday, Feb. 17, Stone said HSUD was blessed that the weather had not caused any more problems than it did.

“Most of our trouble activity over the last 24 hours had been water related,” Stone said.

There was a rupture of the sprinkler system at the old Fred’s store on Van Dorn Avenue.

And the natural gas system was taxed but able to meet the elevated demands, he said.

No significant power outages were experienced after Monday, Feb. 15.

There were no water quality concerns since the integrity of the water supply was not compromised by leaks.