About six inches of snow fell in Bloomington-Normal on Sunday, as seen at the McLean County Sheriff's Office in downtown Bloomington. (Photo by Eric Stock/WJBC)
By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Local road crews have been working around the clock to clear the roads of snow and ice after an estimated six inches of snow fell in the Bloomington-Normal area on Sunday.
A Winter Storm Warning was canceled at midnight, but high winds in some outlying areas have created near white-out conditions, according to Bloomington City Manager Jim Karch.
"Those are the roads like Ireland Grove, Six Points, Fort Jesse, that tend to be more difficult whenever those winds pick up," Karch said.
Several schools, including Normal-based Unit 5 and Olympia, delayed the start of classes on Monday, while others, including Minonk-based Fieldcrest, closed for the day.
The Illinois Department of Transportation reports most local roads are snow covered this morning, while many primary roads are passable with caution.
Several flights at Central Illinois Regional Airport were canceled or delayed.
Rauner ready to take action in snow emergency
Regardless of freezing roads, evacuated homes and canceled flights, Illinois’ first responders are in place and ready.
Gov. Bruce Rauner is confident the state can help local emergency responders if freezing temperatures make travel harsh into Monday, but as late as Sunday afternoon there were no requests for state assistance. In a readout of Rauner’s conference call to various state agencies Sunday, the governor indicates there are concerns that when temperatures drop there could be freezing roads.
The call featured updates about an overturned semi-trailer on Interstate 57 near Champaign on Sunday that led to nearly 70 homes being evacuated out of caution. The truck was not carrying any hazardous material. The message also addressed nearly 20,000 customers out of power and hundreds of canceled flights out of Chicago.
Check on updated road conditions and cancellations here.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
Illinois News Network contributed to this report.
