Poplar Bluff Street Department crews were out in force late Monday afternoon to clear roads covered with around 6 inches of snow.
“We actually broke everything out about 2:30 p.m.,” said Superintendent Jerry Lawson.
Lawson said he has crews in every sector of town, working their way through priority areas first, then into residential areas.
“Before it stopped snowing, we went around to all our fire stations and police department, and we tried to get to the nursing homes,” Lawson said.
Other high-priority roads include Main Street, Barron Road, Oak Grove Road and Shelby Road.
“They will start splintering off after they get those done,” Lawson said.
Lawson noted his 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. crew likely will work extended hours Monday.
“My 8 to 8 crew is probably going go work until midnight on a 16-hour shift while we’ve got everybody in here,” he said. “Another crew will come in at 8 p.m., so I’ll be able to get a couple more guys out on pieces of equipment.”
Lawson said the tactic the street department is using in many areas is to “follow a dump truck with a plow, or a pickup and a plow, so we can make one pass and get two lanes open.
“We can’t get it all the way down in spots, but we’re making it where it’s not so deep.”
Lawson said his goal is “to try to get it where people won’t have to traverse but maybe a block one way or another to get to a road” that has been plowed and cleared.
Earlier in the day, Troop E of the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported 69 calls for service, 43 stranded motorists and eight non-injury crashes as of 2 p.m. across its multi-county region.
Meanwhile the National Weather Service still was expecting brutally cold temperatures overnight, falling to around zero.
The temperature is expected to rebound into the mid-teens Tuesday before a second weather front moves in overnight into Wednesday, potentially dumping several more inches of snow across the area through Thursday.