Snow wins struggle against Island County plow, mailboxes
By JESSIE STENSLAND
Whidbey News Times Assistant editor
January 25, 2012 · Updated 8:53 AM
A truck that was supposed to make roads safer during last week’s snow storm on Whidbey Island instead fell victim to the ice and snow.
It fell on its side.
Connie Bowers, assistant county engineer for Island County, said a combined sanding and snowplowing truck went off of Hastie Lake Road at a tight turn and tipped over last Tuesday. The driver wasn’t injured. A tow truck was called to pull the truck out after it was emptied of sand.
Bowers said the truck was damaged and unusable, but the extent of the damage hasn’t been fully appraised yet. The county has enough snow plows so that the temporary loss of one didn’t affect operations, she said.
In addition, a resident called 911 on Jan. 15 to report that a county snow plow took out a couple of rows of mailboxes in the area of Fort Nugent Road.
Bowers explained that snow plows shoot out snow and slush with great speed and pressure, so it’s not unusual for mailboxes to become damaged. She said the mailboxes weren’t hit with the blade of the snow plow.
Now that the snow has melted, Bowers said county road crews will be spending this week cleaning up after the snow storm, which includes dealing with the sand dumped on Hastie Lake Road.
Contact Whidbey News Times Assistant editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360.675.6611 ext. 5056.
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