Snow-clogged Area Digging Out

Area residents continued digging out his morning following a weekend storm hich dumped 13V4 inches of snow on inn Arbor About 99.9 per cent of the city's hrough streets have been partially lowed, Frederick A. Mammel, superinendent of public works, reported this aorning. City crews began clearing streets about 9 p.m. Friday and have been working 12-hour shifts ever since, Mammel added. Private contractors were called in early Saturday morning and they too worked continuously until 7 a.m. today. Mammel estimated 35 to 40 pieces of equipment, including front-end loaders aiíéTgradé'rs, were used during the peak of the snow I removal operation. Mammel said it was the first time since a snowfall in 1965 that so many pïeces of equipment have been used. Mammel praised the crews who worked Ithe long hours, sometimes not going ■ home between shifts. City crews were working this morning to remove frozen snow which was blockI ing U.S. Post Office vehicles from leaving I the máin Post Office at 2075 W. Stadium Blvd. Stan Tschiltz, superintendent of mails, I said there was partial mail delivery I Saturday, mostly in the downtown areas. I He said delivery today would be late and limited to those areas where postal vehicles can get through without getting stuck. Thirty-three traffic accidents were [ reported in the city over the weekend. I Ann Arbor pólice noted with the condition of the roads in the city there would I have been more accidents except that so I many people were snowed in. Only six of the accidents involved personal injury and in none of the six was anyone seriously hurt, according to pólice reports. ■ Most of the mishaps were of the "fender bender" variety, pólice said. While thousands of Washtenaw County residents were out shoveling snow nvpr the weekend, only one heart attack wa reported as a result. St. Joseph Mercy Hospital reported that an off-duty Ann Arbor policeman suffered a heart attack after shoveling snow at his home and is now in the hospitai's Intensive Care Unit. Lt. Eddie H Owens is reported in critical condition. " University Hospital, Beyer Memorial Hospital in Ypsilanti, Chelsea Community Hospital and Saline Community Hospital, reported no persons were brought in I to their emergency rooms with heart atI tacks from shoveling snow. H Dr. Michael Papo, director of the Chelsea Medical Center, said that the I center provided insulin to diabetics stranded along 1-94 who were without a 1 supply and in danger of a reaction. Joseph Owsley, assistant director of I health and science relations at I ty Hospital, said an appeal to citizens I with four-wheel drive vehicles to I port doctors and nurses to work brought I about 90 volunteers. One unidentified I man worked 48 hours driving medical I staff to and from work. Dial-A-Ride minibuses operated I day until about noon, according to John I Zielinski, transit manager. Services had I to be discontinued because the minibuses I couldn't make it through the snow. I Regular buses do not opérate on I ends. Regular service is available through I the Ann Arboí Transportation Authority I (AATA) today, Zielinski said. Regular I buses are making some detours but they I are generally following regular routes. I Dial-A-Ride is also operating where it I can. ] The Ann Arbor Public Library is closed today but will open at 9 a.m. I Tuesday, according to Homer Chance, I director, the library is closed in I junction with the closing of Ann Arbor I public schools. Schools throughout the área were I closed today due to the heavy snow. Orval Throne, superintendent of road I maintenance for the Washtenaw County I Road Commission, said although some of I the main roads in the county are cleared, I several main roads and many of the I secondary roads are still closed. He noted I some of the drifts out in the rural áreas I are as high as eight feet. I Throne said there are many homes I throughout the área isolated by the I storm. I "It's a constant battle. Anybody going I out today will get trouble. It'll take from i two to three days to clear the roads," he said. By noon today there were single lañes of traffic open north and southbound on US-23 north of Ann Arbor and State Pólice said the flow of traffic was slow. 1-94 west of Ann Arbor also had a limited traffic flow east and west bound. State troopers said National Guard troops are attempting to remove cars I which are partially blocking expressways I and motorists are being advised to use I these highways only if their trips involve I emergencies. Saline pólice reported this morning I that a roadblock set up over the weekend I on US-12 (michigan Avenue) was of I ton has been lifted, but only one lane is I open and it is icv. _.m A barrier remains at the Saline-Ann I Arbor Road, blocking traffic to eastbound I US-12 in Saline. Two tractor-trailer I trucks are blocking that route to and I from the city, pólice report. Saline pólice said all other major roads I to and from the city are passable but ■ advise travelers from Ann Arbor to I line to use Wagner Road to Saline-Ann I Arbor Road rather than traveling the I full Saline-Ann Arbor Road to the city. H Saline City Council still plans to meet I at 8 p.m. today at the City Hall. u Milán pólice report impassable driving H conditions on many side streets and roads ■ in the área. However, pólice said all H major arteries to and from the city are I open. I Edward Hanselman, general service H supervisor for the Detroit Edison Co., H said that power had been restorod to all I areas before midnight Sunday night. 9 j Hanselman said that 6,500 customers I in Washtenaw, Livingston and Ingham I I Counties were without power since I I day night - the start of the storm. He I I said some of these people had no power I I for 40 hours but that power has now been I I restored. I "The cooperation of the Washtenaw, I I Livingston and Ingham county road ■ I commissions was of immense help to us. I I Farmers and volunteer people on I I mobiles also helped a lot," he said. Robert Kuhn, Michigan Bell I I ative, reported 57 phones were out of I I order this morning in Ann Arbor. There I I were 50 phones out of order in I I ti and another 18 out in out-county areas. I "There are no major problems," Kuhn I I said, although he expected more calis as I I the day progresses. I A spot check of área industrial plants I ■ showed most were open, some with I I most a full work force reporting this I ■ morning and others with approximately I H 50 per cent of the usual number of I ■ ployes. The first and second shifts did not I I port for work at both the Scio Township I I and Ann Arbor plants of the Chrysler I I Introl División. Normal hours were I I scheduled to resume with the third shift I ■ at 10:30 p.m., according to Personnel I ■ Manager Ed Hart. ■ At Bendix it was reported that a I I jority of employés had come to work this I I morning, some late. The percentage dropped to I I mately 50 per cent for Sycor. A lot of I H employés here live in the outlying areas and are having trouble getting in, a 1 pany spokesman said. j Hoover Ball and Bearing Co. 1 ed that all plants were open and had I enough people for production. The Hydra-matic división of General I Motors at Willow Run was reported to be I operating with about a 10 per cent 1 teeism. University Microfilms of Xerox I Corp. reported being open with betterl than 50 per cent of the employés making I it to the plant. The St. Patrick's Day snowstorm whichl paralyzed the southern portion of Michi-I gan and northern portions of Ohio andl Other stories and photos of the weekend blizzard can be found on Pages 3, 7 and 17. Indiana was the result of a low pressure I area which formed over eastern Texas I and moved in a northeasterly direction, I a meterologist at the U.S. Weather Sta-I tion reported. The center of the low pressure areal moved to the south of us across central I Ohio and into Pennsylvania with a sec-l ond low forming behind it by the timel it reached central Pennsylvania to bringl more snow than the area otherwise I would have had. "It wasn't a heavy snowfall becausel the accumulation per hour only amount-l ed to f rom one-quarter to one-half of anl inch of snow, but it was the f act that itl lasted a long time that resulted in deepl snow on the ground," he said. The Detroit airport station recorded al total of 10.1 inches of snow compared tol 13V4 in Ann Arbor and 15 inches in Jack-I son, accumulating over the three-dayl period. The 13V4 inch depth in Ann Arbor wasl reported by the University's Atmosphericl and Oceanic Sciences Weather Stationl I on E. University Avenue.