Old Man Winter assaulted McIntosh County last week and the surrounding areas.

During the coldest part of the freeze, temperatures fell to one degree in some areas, with windchills of -14.

Snow, ice and freezing temperatures knocked out the power for some, forced the closing of schools, businesses, and governments and made streets and highways all but impassable.

Hundreds of vehicles ended up in ditches throughout the county, especially on Interstate 40 and U.S. Highway 69.

Dozens of the vehicles that ended up in ditches and wrecks were semis.

Morgan Towing and Recovery said normally there is a 45-minute wait for a tow. In the depth of the deep freeze in McIntosh County the wait was six to eight hours, according to a dispatcher.

Morgan had between 125 and 150 calls for help during the worst of the weather.

Ballard’s Cardinal Towing received 157 calls, many from truckers. The wait was up to three hours.

A one-vehicle fatality acci- dent that took place at 2 a.m. Saturday four miles south of Eufaula at SH 9E and Bower Road is under investigation by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

The OHP did not give any details about how the accident occurred, whether it was weather related.

Killed was 44-yearold Holly Jordan of McAlester who was the driver of a 2023 Honda Accord. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Passenger James Scarpello, 43, of Hartshorne, was flown to Saint Francis in Tulsa suffering from head and trunk injuries.

The fatal accident was not the only tragedy during the harsh weather.

The Eufaula Fire Department assisted the Vivian Fire Department fighting a mobile home fire at about 4:20 a.m. Friday on S.H. 9 at Deere’s Chapel.

“A lady with three children and a dog lost everything,” French said. “The Red Cross was called to help them.”

Firefighters stayed busy assisting law enforcement work accidents for several days.

“It started on the 18th (Tuesday) at around noon with first a call of a limb on fire that was laying on a power line due to the ice accumulation in Eagle bluff,” Fire Chief Chad French said. “Then at about 3:45 p.m. the same day our first semi was stuck in the middle of 69 highway just north of Eagle Bluff on a hill. It caused a traffic jam, forcing us to divert traffic from 69 through Eufaula. While on that call, a semi crashed into the wall on 69 southbound by Love’s. We finished up that day at around 8 p.m.”

Thenextday,Wednesday, at about 9:45 a.m. a semi ran off 69 just north of Love’s, going into a ditch through the fence onto Union Pacific Railway property and into the trees, knocking one onto the tracks.

“We had to clear the tracks with chain saws, cutting the tree up so the trains could pass,” French said. “While on that call, at about 12:20 p.m. we received a call to assist in traffic control to get a semi out on the ditch just south of Love’s on Business 69.

“The same day, at about 2:30 p.m. a car hit the center wall on 69 northbound by Loves blocking the left lane.”

What’s cold weather without a power outage?

On Wednesday, Feb. 19, Some 1,200 OG&E customers and 500 members of Canadian Valley Electric Cooperative were briefly without power.

City Manager Jeb Jones said the warming station at the community center was open for two days, but no one took advantage of the facility.

This could be an indication that people, at least locals, were staying home.

“Everyone did a good job of staying in because of the ice. They respected the weather,” Jones said.

There was little snow but lots of ice, about one-fourth inch thick.

“With snow you can get a little traction, but not on ice,” he said.

Most of the problems on 69 were on hills. Semis and autos couldn’t get up inclines, causing a number of back-ups.

“The police department had to deal with a lot of issues on 69, a lot of them on hills.” ODOT (Oklahoma Department of Transportation) was almost overwhelmed. Road crews were so busy sanding the highways, they couldn’t get to every location as quickly as motorists would have liked.

Jones said inside the city, streets were treated with 70 tons of sand.