PORT ANGELES — North Olympic Peninsula residents managed to avoid serious injury during last week’s snowstorms, despite a total of 83 small vehicle mishaps on the snowbound and icy roads in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Dispatchers in Clallam and Jefferson counties reported no major wrecks, though there were plenty of spinouts and fender-benders.
“I think people are staying home and staying off the roadways,” said Deb Homan, a dispatcher for Peninsula Communications, which covers Clallam County.
Peninsula Communications reported 57 vehicle wrecks from Jan. 15 through noon Saturday and 51 reports of traffic hazards — such as a tree limb or an abandoned vehicle blocking the roadway — on county roads in Clallam County, PenCom supervisor Karl Hatton said Saturday.
None resulted in serious injuries.
Jefferson Communications reported 26 wrecks — none with serious injuries — and six reports of hazardous conditions from Tuesday through noon Saturday on county roads, JeffCom supervisor Donna Stamper said Saturday.
The State Patrol reported eight wrecks in Clallam County and four in Jefferson County, none with major injuries, during the storm, agency spokesman Trooper Russ Winger said.
The number was low when compared with past storms, he said.
“We had really light traffic,” Winger said.
“They [drivers] were prepared for it.”
Port Angeles Deputy Chief Brian Smith said nontraffic calls were down during the storm.
Snow accumulations
Snow accumulations were the highest on the West End, according to data from the National Weather Service and the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (www.cocorahs.org).
Forks received about 14 inches of snow.
Port Angeles received about 12 inches.
Sequim had received about 8 inches since Tuesday. Data for Sunday and Monday were unavailable.
Port Townsend, Chimacum and Brinnon received about 5 inches.
Lots of sand
To combat the snow, Clallam County used 1,862 cubic yards of sand.
Its snowplowers in total spent 1,253 hours plowing streets, which includes 277 hours of overtime.
Jefferson County’s snowplowers spent a total of 650 hours on the road and used about 2,000 cubic yards of sand and 40 tons of salt.
The city of Sequim used 100 cubic yards of sand and 15 tons of salt.
Sequim plowers spent 324 hours on the road working 12-hour shifts over three days.
Plowing data was not immediately available for the cities of Port Townsend, Port Angeles and Forks.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb contributed to this report.
