by Theodore Wiesehan

    As a county road department veteran of more than 30 years, Seward County Roads Superintendent Russ Daehling knows how unpredictable and downright dangerous a Nebraska winter storm can make driving conditions. As winter driving season hits he urged county residents not to take chances with winter driving.
     The road department's snow and ice removal plan specifies that "main roads will have preference over less-traveled roads and last to be plowed will be housing areas."
     Daehling urged rural residents in the county not living on primary routes to plan accordingly in the event of a severe storm, as heavy snowfall and recurrent drifting may require the department to plow main roads several times before moving on to secondary roads.
     "If people have a job where it's imperative that they get to a shift and the weather forecast is such that they're calling a winter storm warning, they need to make accommodations so that they can reach it," Daehling said, "because what may look passable in the city will be impassable in the country."
     During last year's March storm the department had to deal with more than 150 abandoned vehicles, making the county's snow removal efforts more dangerous and delaying the clearing of many roads.
     "(Abandoned vehicles) just really puts a crimp on our effort when you can't get around it," he said. "In some instances our guys would try to and slip into a ditch."
     The road department is not responsible for removal of stalled vehicles, and vehicles abandoned on the county road system are towed at the owners' expense once conditions allow it.
     No matter how bad the weather, however, Daehling said that the department has always responded in crises, opening roads to bring needed medication, for medical emergencies or to allow fire and rescue personnel to reach homes.
     "If you wouldn't make the effort and something would happen you'd always have to live with that on your conscience," Daehling said.
     Often road department employees put their own safety at risk to come to the aid of others in a storm.
     Daehling recalled one particular rescue during a brutal 1983 storm.
     "We had about 16 inches (of snow), but we also had some really, really severe cold and wind chill indexes - 50 to 60 below," he said. "It was basically what we called 'the year we went without Christmas,' because everybody was snowed in from Christmas to New Year's."
     In the middle of the night during the storm Daehling received a call from the sheriff's office. Then-sheriff Roger Anderson's vehicle was stuck in a drift south of Seward. Though previous attempts made by road department maintainers had failed to reach Anderson, Daehling decided to try a last-ditch effort to reach him.
     Daehling's private vehicles refused to turn over in the subzero temperature, and in desperation he tried the road department pickup parked by his house. Miraculously it sputtered to life.
     His brother-in-law met him on the way out with chains for the truck (the vehicle was not equipped with four-wheel drive) and followed him out.
     Navigating snowdrifts and slick hills, Daehling managed to reach Anderson's vehicle not a moment too soon.
     "He was just to the point where he was going to walk back to town, and I'm sure he would have frozen to death," Daehling said. "He had a little frostbite from being out there, but it could have been a lot worse. They were talking you could only survive out there for a half-hour.
     "It was divine intervention. There were a lot of things that went right that night that usually don't. If something freezes, if something stops on you, we didn't have backup."
     Daehling said that stranded motorists should remain in their vehicles, leave the engine and heat running and make sure to leave windows cracked to prevent deadly carbon monoxide buildup.
     He encouraged winter drivers to keep a winter survival kit in their vehicles, adding that a brightly-colored flag or pennant should be included to tie to the antenna in the event of a stall, as stuck vehicles are difficult to spot if covered by snow.
     Daehling said that changes in rural life-styles have worsened road conditions during storms and also decreased residents' ability to deal with impassable roads.
     "Earlier in the '70s there were a lot more people that had smaller farms," Daehling said. "Those people that lived in the country...they could endure a three-, four-day wait. Now most of the people that live in the country live on acreages and commute in to work."
     The shift to larger farms and more irrigation has made for worse snowdrifts, Daehling added, as corn stalks are no longer left in fields and shelterbelts are removed for center-pivots.
     "A six-inch snow in the '70s or '80s that wasn't that severe is like double now because there's nothing there to stop it," he said.
     Daehling encouraged county residents to remain cautious in winter storm warnings and not to let the mild winters of recent years cause them to underestimate the power of Nebraska weather.
     "A lot of people haven't had enough experience," Daehling said. "They think with four-wheel drives they're invincible. They wait until the last possible second and they'll get stuck.
     "School officials - they're not going to take chances...and they pretty much respect this Nebraska winter. I think if everybody takes that to heart and, when they hear the warning, stay at home it helps us out a lot and keeps them safe."