Area sees rash of crashes

The winter storm that moved in during the weekend after a record high temperature Friday left many roads with treacherous slick spots and contributed to at least three deaths in the state late Sunday and Monday.

A 3-year-old girl in a Kansas family died in a rollover crash about 3 p.m. Monday on the Sand Springs Expressway west of downtown Tulsa.

The child was riding in an eastbound Ford pickup that overturned when the driver lost control near the 49th West Avenue entrance ramp, police Sgt. James Kennemer said.

EMSA's spokeswoman Tina Wells said the pickup had hit a slick patch on the highway before overturning and that the girl was pronounced dead at the scene.

Four other people from the family — a girl, 2; a boy, 5; and a man and woman in their 20s — were taken by ambulance to St. John Medical Center in fair condition, Wells said.

Rogelio Rangel, 23, of Arkansas City, Kan., was arrested after the crash on complaints of negligent homicide, having no driver's license or insurance verification and not using child restraints. Police allege that Rangel, whose name is spelled Rangle on some records, was driving too fast for the icy conditions. Authorities placed an immigration hold on him later Monday.

In another fatality, a Big Cabin man died while pinned in a tractor-trailer rig that crashed late Sunday on the Will Rogers Turnpike in Mayes County.

Troopers reported that Charles Gary, 65, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which took place about 11:45 p.m. Sunday about four miles southeast of Oklahoma 28. He was pinned until about 4:45 a.m. Monday, the OHP reported.

The 2006 Kenworth truck in which he was riding had hit another truck that had jackknifed on the icy highway after hitting a median barrier, the patrol reported. The driver of the Kenworth, Bonnie Gary, 65, also of Big Cabin, refused treatment at the scene, troopers said.

Neither the driver of the other truck, Olga Padilla, 45, nor her passenger, Migual Padilla, 42, both of Bloomington, Calif., was injured, troopers reported.

Charles Gary was the only one of the four who was not wearing a seat belt, the OHP reported.

The brutal cold also contributed to at least one death in western Oklahoma, the patrol reported.

Robert F. Jencks, 54, of Cheyenne died, apparently from exposure, after he was pinned in his car after it ran off U.S. 283 down an embankment and overturned late Sunday or early Monday just south of Cheyenne in Roger Mills County, the OHP said.

The wreckage, not visible from the highway, was not discovered until 7:50 a.m. Monday. Jencks was not wearing a seat belt, the OHP reported.

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority reported two other truck crashes between midnight and 9:30 a.m. Monday on the Will Rogers Turnpike.

Ice also led to many accidents on Tulsa streets, even though the city had 119 employees and its fleet of 52 salt spreaders out early, focusing primarily on arterial streets and municipal expressways, the Public Works Department's supervisor Paul Strizek said.

"What we've found are pretty spotty conditions," he said. "In some areas it's fairly clear and in others it's caked with ice."

Wells of the Emergency Medical Services Authority said its ambulance workers also had an early start Monday, responding to eight traffic accidents between 5 a.m. and 6:45 a.m.

The pace of crashes continued throughout the day, resulting in what Wells described as a "whopping" 52 crashes by 4:40 p.m. That is about double the normal number of crashes in Tulsa during a full 24-hour period, she said.

Wrecks occurred throughout the Tulsa metropolitan area, but motorists and EMSA crews reported that the Broken Arrow and Sand Springs Expressways were particularly slick in the morning. Ten wrecks happened on the Sand Springs Expressway alone, Wells said.

Most of the morning crashes did not result in serious injuries, but EMSA did take one patient — a 47-year-old man who was in a rollover on the Sand Springs Expressway — to St. John Medical Center in serious condition, Wells said.

Tulsa street crews were expected to work around the clock until the icy weather dissipates, which is expected sometime Wednesday.

"We've got a good handle on it, but people need to drive carefully," Strizek said. "It only takes hitting one ice patch to lose control."

The crews use 100 percent salt, unless they run out, but with 8,600 tons of salt stored for the winter, that's not going to happen any time soon, he said.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation, which is responsible for the state's highways in the metro area, uses a sand-and-salt blend.

School closings: The icy roads also led many Tulsa-area school district officials to cancel classes Monday.

Several suburban districts, including Jenks, Sapulpa and Union, activated auto-dialer programs to inform students and staff members know about the closings.

It was Jenks' first time to use the Web-based program Alert Now to announce school closings.

"In the past, we've had parents complain that they didn't know early enough," said Jenks Communications Director Tara Thompson. "I'm interested to see the feedback. Hopefully, people are happy with it."

Gretchen Haas-Bethel, the executive director of communications at Union, said only two elementary schools used the district's auto-dialer notification system Monday.

Broken Arrow Public Schools and Tulsa Public Schools, which also have auto-dialer systems, did not use them but instead relied on media outlets and the district's Web pages to announce school closings.

Broken Arrow, however, used its automated system Monday afternoon to say that schools would remain closed Tuesday, the district's spokesman Keith Isbell said.

TPS Director of Public Information Tami Marler said the district's automated system would have had to notify approximately 26,000 households. Because "our auto-dialer is not one that makes calls in a matter of seconds, but hours," other methods were used, she said.

Delays: Postal and trash service in some areas were hindered by the wintry weather.

Customers whose trash was not collected Monday should put it out on their next service day, Thursday.

The cold and ice also forced the postponement from Tuesday of the groundbreaking ceremony for Tulsa's downtown ballpark.

The ceremony was rescheduled for 2:15 p.m. Friday at the northeast corner of Archer Street and Elgin Avenue.

Precautions are recommended


While the icy conditions continue, EMSA paramedics advise motorists to drive with extreme caution, keeping speeds lower than the posted limits and allowing extra stopping distance. They encourage motorists to travel with fully charged mobile phones so they can summon help quickly if necessary.

Balmy weekend is ancient history

Tulsa set a daily high temperature record of 75 degrees Sunday afternoon, but a cold front sent the mercury plummeting that evening, bringing a wintry mix of sleet and freezing rain and a low of 15 degrees Monday morning.

A slight chance of snow and sleet was projected for Tuesday, with a high near freezing and a low below freezing Tuesday night.

The National Weather Service meteorologist David Jankowski said Monday that residents shouldn’t expect balmy temperatures for the rest of the week—and definitely not temperatures like Sunday’s high.

“We don’t have anything like that in the forecast in the short term,” he said.

World Staff Writers David Schulte, Brian Barber and Sara Plummer contributed to this story.


Source: tulsaworld.com