OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Many of our neighbors are still dealing with the aftermath of Friday's ice storm. Omaha police responded to more than 500 calls that night but on the Council Bluffs side, far fewer reported incidents.
- Council Bluffs Public Works, Pottawattamie county and the Iowa DOT all began pre-treating the roads Friday before the storm.
- Omaha Public Works, Douglas county and the Nebraska DOT began pre-treating Friday during the day.
- Douglas county had to stop operations at 7:00 p.m. Friday night, resuming them at 4:30 a.m. Saturday.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
In Omaha, many of our neighbors are still dealing with the aftermath of Friday's ice storm.
Drivers on the Omaha and Douglas County side of the metro struggled on the ice, spinning out, sliding down hills and crashing into other car.
Omaha police responded to more than 500 calls that night but on the Council Bluffs side, far fewer reported incidents.
3 News Now reporter Jill Lamkins is taking a look at why the experience was so different.
IOWA
Council Bluffs Public Works, Pottawattamie county and the Iowa DOT all began pre-treating the roads Friday before the storm.
Once it started, crews in Council Bluffs started salting and worked all through the night into Saturday morning.
NEBRASKA
Omaha Public Works, Douglas County and the Nebraska DOT began pre-treating Friday during the day.
While the city had crews working overnight, Douglas county had to stop operations at 7:00 p.m. Friday night, resuming them at 4:30 a.m. Saturday.
Douglas County engineer Todd Pfitzer tells us the reason operations stopped Friday night is because CDL drivers can only work 12 hours a day by law.
He says the county does shifts differently than the city.
The city of Omaha has over 100 trucks treating around 5400 miles of roads.
In Douglas County there are around 125 miles of county roads and a few hundred more including SID’s.
There were two on-call drivers working throughout the night.
If you're one of the hundreds of people who damaged your car, we'll have some useful information for you starting at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday morning about navigating the insurance process.
