Emergency responders: More prepared this storm versus last

Missourians are coming out of hibernation after this weekend’s ice storm.

While some areas were hit harder than others, emergency responders say this weekend went much better than when we saw ice just a month ago.

ABC 17 News spoke with Missouri Department of Transportation officials Sunday night and they say a majority of their road crews have left for the night but are still monitoring conditions in case the weather changes.

Sgt. Scott White, with Missouri State Highway Patrol, told ABC 17 News that it was better to be safe than sorry this weekend.

“It helps immensely when people decided to not travel in these types of weather events,” White said. “Had those two things not occur I think it would have been a completely different outcome.”

Since Friday Troop F responded to 305 calls for service, 21 of them were crashes, with one fatality. During the last ice storm in mid-December, there were more than 1,000 calls for service, more than 400 crashes, 45 injuries with one fatality.

“The weather event that occur on the 16th and 17th kind of snuck up on us. With this one we had plenty of warning,” White said.