It could take several days for road crews around the state to clear all of Iowa’s highways, residential streets and county roads. The winter storm hit southeast Iowa the hardest with nearly two feet of snow accompanied by 50 mile per hour winds. Keokuk Mayor Tom Marion says his city is buried under 17.5 inches of snow…a new record.
He says Keokuk’s previous record for a single snowfall was nearly 14 inches in 1979. Marion says Keokuk has 120 miles of streets and just five employees driving plows. Those plows had to be pulled off the roads for a while on Tuesday because of dangerous whiteout conditions.
“One of the toughest things is where do you put it?, In 1979, we were lucky to have the Iowa National Guard to help us out,” Marion said. This year, he says all of Keokuk’s troops are deployed to Afghanistan.
Marion said he’s checking into a report that a Keokuk man may’ve died this morning from an apparent heart attack while shoveling snow. He says there’s no confirmation of that report just yet.