There was no shortage of vehicles in ditches during the icy week.
WATER VALLEY – Yalobusha County Sheriff Jerimaine Gooch reported heavy call volume during the last week due to icy roadways in the county. Many of the calls for law enforcement officers in the county were for vehicles wrecking, stalling on hills or simply sliding in a ditch.
Gooch explained that multiple times deputies would respond to an area where a vehicle had left the roadway and several additional vehicles would spin out of control while the deputy was on the scene trying to help.
“There was areas in the county where it was extremely slick, and vehicle after vehicle would slide off the road,” the sheriff explained. “We had a deputy on Hwy. 32 providing assistance to one motorist when three more vehicles slid into the ditch while he was sitting there. We had a deputy’s vehicle almost get hit. This was the worst ice I have seen in a very long time.”
The busy week led to long hours for deputies, and for Sheriff Gooch and Chief Deputy Thomas West, who worked day and night responding to calls. Gooch noted that in some incidents, it was hard to get wreckers in the rural areas, or the wrecker operators were backed up on other calls.
“We did the best we could. In a lot of cases somebody would come along and help pull people out of ditches. There were also times if the vehicle wasn’t blocking traffic, we would leave it until the next day,” Gooch reported.
“We appreciate all of help from people in the county pulling together and providing assistance to one another, I think that helped us all get through the week,” Gooch said.
