Winter weather blamed for deadly Wichita wreck. Two KDOT snowplows damaged in crashes
A 21-year-old man died Sunday after the truck he was in lost control and crashed on an icy Wichita highway — one of at least eight weather-related fatalities reported in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska amid a winter storm that dumped nearly a foot of snow across parts of the Midwest.
Snowfall and ice moved into the Wichita metro-area Sunday morning and is expected to continue throughout Monday, closing schools and creating slick roads for motorists to grapple with.
Kansas Highway Patrol statistics for Sunday included a total of 1,182 calls for service. That included 268 non-injury crashes, 30 injury-crashes and one fatality.
State troopers said in a crash report that Jimmy S. Romero, 21, of Wichita, was a passenger in a 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 that “lost control due to ice on the bridge” as it merged from southbound I-135 to the northbound I-235 ramp around 11:22 a.m. Sunday. The truck slipped off the southwest side of the highway, overturned and rolled. It stopped when it flipped onto its top in the center median.
Romero died from his injuries, the crash report says.
A 25-year-old man driving the Dodge, Roy R. Boatner Jr. of Wichita, was hospitalized at Wesley Medical Center with suspected minor injuries.
The cold snap has snarled traffic and caused wrecks across much of the state. Romero’s death is the only fatality reported in the Wichita-area as of Monday afternoon.
So far, few of the crashes and slide-offs worked by Wichita police have resulted in any serious injuries to motorists, Officer Kevin Wheeler said during the department’s daily 10 a.m. news briefing.
The Kansas Department of Transportation took two snowplows out of service Sunday after drivers rear-ended them in separate crashes in Wichita and on I-135 south of Newton, agency spokesman Tim Potter said by email. The plows were out treating or clearing highways when they were hit, damaging equipment on the rear of the trucks. The two KDOT employees had no apparent injuries, but one of the drivers who crashed into one of the plows suffered serious injuries that required hospitalization.
The City of Wichita continues to treat the main thoroughfares to help eliminate icy buildup on the roads. But side streets are still snow-packed.
The Emergency Accident Reporting Plan remains in effect for Wichita city streets. If you’re in a non-injury crash and there are no alcohol or drugs involved, you can collect the other driver’s information and fill out an accident report later at any QuikTrip or Wichita Police Department substation.
Kansas snowfall and Wichita’s NWS forecast
In Wichita, the NWS forecast calls for an overnight low of about 18 degrees with a wind chill of 9 degrees. The high temperature will be around 38 degrees on Tuesday. Highs will be in the 40s and 50s the rest of the week. No hazardous weather is expected in the NWS Wichita service area during that time.
Monday’s official snowfall in Wichita, as of 3:30 p.m., was 1.6 inches recorded at the NWS Wichita office at Eisenhower National Airport. Snowfall measured 3 inches elsewhere in the city, the weather service said in a tweet.
Sunday’s official snowfall in Wichita was one-tenth of an inch.
Neither number came close to breaking the NWS snowfall records. The Dec. 15 record is 1.6 inches, which was set in 2007. The Dec. 16 record is 4.5 inches, which was set in 1892.
As of Monday afternoon, weather service local storm reports for the past 24-hours showed the highest reported snowfall in Kansas was 9.5 inches near St. George. Other reports included 8.5 inches near Wamego, 7.5 inches near Manhattan, 6 inches in Abilene, 5.5 inches near Lawrence and 3.2 inches near both Goddard and Maize.
Meteorologists predict less than an inch of additional snow accumulation Monday night as the storm leaves the Flint Hills and southeast Kansas.
Snowplows, road conditions and cancellations
The Kansas Division of Emergency Management encourages travelers to prepare a home emergency kit that includes food, water, medications, extra clothing, flashlights and batteries, battery-operated NOAA weather radio and other necessities. When traveling during winter storms, fill the fuel tank, charge your cellphone and bring an emergency kit, the state agency advises.
Internet users can follow the paths of Wichita snowplows at www.wichita.gov/PWU/Pages/SnowRemoval.aspx.
Drivers can check Kansas highway road conditions at www.kandrive.org/kandrive. Kansas Department of Transportation statewide highway traffic cameras and Wichita cameras are also available online.
If you know of a closing, cancellation or postponement because of the snowstorm, please email details to The Wichita Eagle at online@wichitaeagle.com. Weather-related photos and videos can be submitted to The Eagle online at www.kansas.com/customer-service/submit-photo/.
This story was originally published December 16, 2019 at 10:29 AM with the headline "Winter weather blamed for deadly Wichita wreck. Two KDOT snowplows damaged in crashes."
