A battering ram of snow, wind

NO TRAVEL ADVISED “Please, for the safety of yourself and others, stay home!”

This was just one of several posts made on Facebook by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office as a blizzard hit the county Tuesday night into Wednesday.

Just a day prior, March 18, it was sunny, warm, and many residents of Clay County were seen in shorts and T-shirts.

By Tuesday night, a thunderstorm developed, pelting the area with rain, before an onslaught of snow and harsh winds hit.

By Wednesday morning, visibility across the road was almost impossible, and travel was heavily opposed by local agencies.

A post by the Clay County Emergency Management asked people to stay home, as there were already several cars in ditches, and no way for emergency personnel to reach them.

Power went out for most if not all towns in Clay County by 6 a.m., Wednesday, due to heavy amounts of wet snow that fell on power lines.

Snow accumulations, according to the National Weather Service in Hastings, showed seven inches fell in and around Fairfield, while six inches was recorded south of Glenvil.

Areas between Hastings and York ranged from seven to 10 inches of snow.

Wind gusts didn’t help with the heavy snowfall, as the highest recorded speed was 72 mph south/southeast of Kearney. Deweese noted 60 mph wind gusts, while areas around Grand Island and Hastings ranged from 66 to 71 mph.

With this combination, few areas gained power March 19.

One Sutton citizen noted power was restored around 8 p.m., Wednesday, while other towns such as Harvard and Fairfield didn’t get power until about 1:30 p.m. and midnight, Thursday/ Friday, respectively.

Businesses and schools throughout Clay were closed Wednesday due to the dangerous driving conditions and lack of power—some continued their closures into Thursday.

Power lines were reported down on the Edgar spur that heads west out of town and was closed to drivers.

All highways were closed Wednesday, but slowly, crews worked hard to get roads cleared of stranded vehicles and several inches of snow buildup.

By Friday morning, only the Edgar and Deweese spurs were still closed.

South Central Public Power District had its work cut out for it, as crews immediately started work on repairing lines as soon as they were able.

By 6:30 a.m., March 19, SCPPD reported their service area was experiencing widespread outages and blinks.

An updated post made at about 2:15 p.m., March 20 stated, “We have multiple crews throughout our service area continuing to work on restoring power.”

By the time that post was made, about 40 percent of SCPPD’s coverage area had power restored.

By March 20, about 50 percent of their coverage area had power restored, but many places—mostly rural homes—were still without power.

By Friday morning, another update by SCCP stated that 60 percent of their service area had power.

By Sunday evening, power was restored to more than 94 percent of residential customers and 87 percent of their total service area. SCCPD anticipates power will be out for the remaining area for a few more days due to broken power poles Clay County’s EM and Sheriff’s Department gave a huge thank you for everyone who helped with clean-up following the storm, stating, “We owe a huge thank you to Sutton Fire Department, Sutton Police Department, Harvard Fire Department, Nebraska Department of Transportation, South Central Public Power, Clay County Emergency Management, Diversified Towing & Recovery, Clay County Roads, and countless good samaritans. These dedicated professionals spent hours working to get power back up and running and our highways cleared.”