Snow forces closure of government offices, schools throughout Whitley County Wednesday

Snow moving through Whitley County Tuesday left road crews scrambling to keep up to keep the roads cleared.

Amber Owens, Projects Directors for the Whitley County Fiscal Court, said crews attempted to get ahead of the storm by pretreating the main roads overnight Monday.

Gordon Street in Corbin was blocked for approximately 20 minutes Tuesday afternoon while Wallen’s Towing attempted to move this SUV that had slid off the road.

Whitley County Constable Ron “Bubba” Bowling said the main roads were clear Tuesday morning, but the continuing snowfall quickly undid the progress crews had made.

“Crews had just got done scraping Fifth Street Road near Tattersall and within an hour it was covered again,” Bowling said about 1 p.m. Tuesday. “Right now everything that the road crews have been able to accomplish is covered back up.”

Bowling added that it is a wet snow. When vehicles run over it, it tends to melt, or get pounded down to become slush, leaving the roads wet and slick.

“As the temperatures get more frigid, the salt doesn’t activate and the moisture freezes again,” Bowling explained.

Bowling said state road crews have been working to keep Interstate 75 clear.

The deteriorating roads led some local officials to close government offices early.

Corbin officials closed the city hall offices at noon, as did the Whitley County Clerks office.

Corbin City Manager Marlon Sams announced Tuesday night that all Corbin city offices would be closed Wednesday.

In addition the Whitley County Courthouse and judicial annex buildings will be closed Wednesday

Tuesday afternoon, Whitley County Schools officials announced that schools would be closed Wednesday.

Corbin Superintendent Dave Cox and Williamsburg Superintendent Dr. Amon Couch said Tuesday afternoon that they were waiting to make the official call to close school Wednesday, but didn’t see any way classes would be held.

The announcement went out about 4 p.m. that Corbin and Williamsburg would both be closed Wednesday.

“I hope we can get back in Thursday,” Cox said.

“We will take it day by day,” Couch added.

University of the Cumberlands officials announced Tuesday night that classes had been cancelled for Wednesday.

While the temperature is expected to reach a high of 21 Wednesday and fall back into the single digits Wednesday night, the forecast is for a warming trend beginning Thursday with temperatures reaching the 50s by the weekend.