WEATHER
Officials warn of slick conditions following massive winter storm
SALT LAKE CITY — Utahn’s are still digging out from the last 48 hours of seeming constant snow.
Plows have been working to clear the roads overnight and through Thursday morning, but conditions are still dangerous in some neighborhoods.
Looks can be deceiving.
“There’s still ice on ‘em, and we’re all aware of black ice,” Ben Nielsen of Salt Lake City Police Department said.
The big storm may be gone, but as some drivers on 5600 West coming down the bridge found out Thursday morning, the slick spots are still there.
“So, the truck kind of lost control and swerved into the other lane and hit head on onto the other car that was driving southbound,” Nielsen said.
In this case, both drivers were taken to the hospital. At last check, one driver was in critical but non-life threatening condition.
This comes as some Salt Lake City residents, like Faila Fakalata, are venturing out for the first time since the snowstorm.
“You see the road is all white. You cannot see the dirt or anything,” Fakalata said.
This comes as Utah Highway Patrol posted that their Salt Lake dispatch took more than 700 calls Wednesday, many of which were weather related. That is followed by Thursday morning’s 25 or so throughout Salt Lake County.
Nielsen said as a driver, it is important to make getting from Point A to Point B as safe as possible.
“Just because you can see out of your car, you’ve got snow on the roof of your vehicle, you know as you’re driving down the freeway that becomes a hazard to other people,” Nielsen said.