Foul weather fouls up plans in Tri-Cities

The slush, muck, snow and ice that blanketed the Tri-Cities area Wednesday forced early dismissals at several schools and kept police busy with minor traffic accidents.

The Kane County Sheriff's office was handling an average of 30 weather-related calls an hour in the afternoon, said Lt. Al Swanson. Fender-benders were common across the area.

"We've had a few crashes, mostly cars in the ditch sliding off the road," Swanson said. "The north end (of the county) is definitely worse than the rest. We're keeping up with it, though."

Several schools either shut down entirely or dismissed students early to get a head-start on the weather. Kaneland had no school nor afterschool activities. Batavia and Geneva canceled afternoon kindergarten classes, while students in the West Aurora and St. Charles school districts were dismissed early.

The Kane County state's attorney's office closed about 1 p.m. because of the weather. The county law library also closed for the night due to the snow.

Winds whipping at 22 mph and snowfall of more than 11 inches were predicted for the area late Wednesday and into today, according to www.accuweather.com.

Batavia Police Cmdr. Greg Thrun said that, while there were more minor accidents than normal, no serious injuries had been reported by the afternoon.

"I guess we must have a learning curve with our residents," he said.

In Elburn, the Lions Club used the foul weather as an opportunity to treat firefighters worn out from an industrial site blaze with hot food.

Several club members prepared sausage and biscuits for the firefighters at the Pavilion at Lions Park, and brought the food to the fire station about 10 a.m.

"They were able to sit down and eat a hot breakfast," said Pam Hall, administrative assistant for the fire department and a member of the Lions Club board of directors.

Police, meanwhile, were encouraging drivers to remain cognizant of the foul weather.

"Stay home if you can," Swanson said.