Season?s First Snow Storm Causes More Than 60 Accidents
November 20, 2014 by

It was so loud you could hear gas coming out half a mile away. Scott Hildenbrand

A collision with an above-ground natural gas main in Hambden Township may have been the most spectacular weather-related incident in Geauga County Thursday, but it was by no means the only one.

More than 60 motorists wound up in ditches, got stuck on slippery hills or bumped into other vehicles during eight snow-clogged hours, according to the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office blotter for Nov. 14.

Chester Township Police Department reported that starting at about 4:42 p.m., there were six fender-benders in the space of a few minutes in all different areas of the township, tying up officers and traffic as people struggled to get home.

In Newbury Township, five cars were involved in a multi-vehicle accident on the curve at Auburn and Fairmount roads.

In Troy Township, a Mustang was totaled when it slid off the slippery asphalt into a brick wall, Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Scott Hildenbrand said Friday.

Hildenbrand said a woman travelling from Indiana to New York went through Hambden on G.A.R. Highway at about 4:20 p.m., lost control of her vehicle due to snowy road conditions, went off the road and ran into a high-pressure natural gas line near the school.

“We had to evacuate the school,” he said, because there were latchkey children still there, and neighboring

Hambden Town Hall.

Law enforcement blocked off the road between routes 608 and 166, very aware of the gas escaping from the broken line.

“It was so loud you could hear gas coming out half a mile away,” Hildenbrand said.

Hambden Fire Department personnel assisted at the scene, he said, but it took more than two hours for East Ohio Gas to get someone there to turn off the main.

“Usually it takes an hour,” he said, adding travel was very slow because of the snow.

The location of the gas line further hampered efforts to solve the potentially explosive situation, keeping the Hambden Township snow plows from getting on the road, Hildenbrand said.

By the time the gas was shut off, the car safely taken off the broken lines and traffic restored, it was nearly 10 p.m., he said.

When asked, the driver said she got off Interstate 90 to find gas for her car.

“(She) found gas, but it was the wrong kind,” Hildenbrand joked.

Fortunately no one was hurt, he said, adding some of the deputies worked a couple of extra hours at the scene.

On other roads around the county, vehicles caused traffic jams when they couldn’t make it up a snowy hill or collided with one another, Hildenbrand said.

But the majority of reports showed vehicles sliding into ditches from one end of the county to the other.

“I did not hear of serious injuries,” Hildenbrand said, adding most people take it easy when road conditions deteriorate, even if the blizzard hits at rush hour, as it did Thursday.

“When you get these storms, people generally are going slow,” he said, adding most accidents were minor.