By T. Scott Boatright
Grambling residents fared fairly well in the face of Winter Storm Fern, but the roads and highways across the city weren’t as fortunate.
“Everybody has done well,” said Grambling Police Chief Tommy Clark. “Most people have listened and stayed off the roads, and those who have gotten out have taken in slow and safe.
“But in the future, I think something needs to be done about the trucking industry, because they have been the worst problem we have had during this event. I don’t remember any problems with truckers during the last ice event we had (in 2021), but for some reason, the truckers this time just thought they could continue to drive through it before finding out they couldn’t.”
This ice storm brought as much as 6 inches of sleet to the Grambling area, freezing up roads and leaving a bottleneck of 18-wheelers stranded along Interstate 20.
Clark said that ended up being the biggest headache for him and his officers.
“Our biggest problem was the truckers, not the citizens,” Clark said. “The citizens that got out had what they needed. They had a 4-wheel drive or front-wheel drive vehicle and didn’t just cruise around but just went out to do what they needed to do and went back home. Our biggest problem was all the big trucks that got stuck.”
Clark said some of those Grambling residents who did bravely venture out did so to help his officers.
“We had several citizens come out and deliver food to the officers working all of those problems on the roads,” Clark said. “They brought hot meals out for us and I do thank them for that. I don’t even know their names. They just said, ‘Hey, we’re just bringing some food out to you because we know how busy you are and all the good you are doing.’ So, I thank them for that.”
Grambling Mayor Alvin Bradley said that city services will be suspended again today before being evaluated to see how Friday will be handled.
“I talked to our police department at length today,” Bradley said. “Chief and I talked at length about the conditions of the roads and he advised me to go ahead and suspend city service and keep City Hall closed until Friday, at least. We’ll talk again (this) afternoon and see how we think things will look for Friday before making a decision on that.
“Today I got my vehicle cleaned off and finally went out and drove through the city, and there are still roads that have significant amounts of ice on them.”
Bradley added that he believes Grambling’s Civic Ready warning program played a key role in keeping Grambling residents safe and informed.
“I’m thinking that was one of the key factors of keeping this event from being as bad as it could have — keeping the public informed,” Bradley said. “I also put a memo to the citizens out on Facebook, and I think that helped, too. I think that kind of communication — keeping the citizens informed about what they should and shouldn’t do, was a big help through all of this. The citizens really seemed to appreciate the warnings and being informed.”
Bradley said he had no knowledge of any problem with broken water pipes during the frigid temperatures that hit the area, but the city of Grambling did have to postpone the start of installation of valves to city water lines that was scheduled to begin last Friday, and Bradley said he is still unsure of when that work will be rescheduled.
“We’re going to have to get together with the contractor and city engineering consultant Henry Shuler and do an evaluation to see when we can reschedule that,” Bradley said. “I think that it all did throw quite a few things off, but I am glad we didn’t get started with a project of that nature and the weather taking a turn like it did.”
