Snow, ice lead to accidents, school delays
By Laura Gossman
lgossman@postbulletin.com
Winter took a pre-season punch at southeastern Minnesota today and Tuesday, causing several accidents, including a fatality, and delaying the start of some schools.
According to the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Department, one man was killed and another injured in a two-vehicle crash near Goodhue County roads 6 and 9 near Goodhue about 6:30 a.m. today.
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Wade Meyer, 40, of Red Wing, was southbound on Goodhue County 6 when he struck a northbound vehicle driven by Derek Skordahl, 36, of rural Goodhue. Skordahl had lost control on the slushy road and was sliding sideways down the road, according to the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office. Meyer’s vehicle hit the passenger side of Skordahl’s vehicle, which then entered the ditch, according to the department’s report. Skordahl was pronounced dead at the scene.
Meyer was taken to Saint Marys Hospital in Rochester.
On Tuesday, two Mazeppa teenagers were injured when their vehicle collided with a semi-tractor at the intersection of Minnesota Highway 58 at Goodhue County Road 9.
Two people were killed in a pair of accidents on icy roads elsewhere in southern Minnesota on Tuesday, including a teenager whose car collided with a snowplow.
Minor accidents were reported throughout the region. A Wabasha County dispatcher said roads were still slick there this morning and that a couple cars had gone into the ditch since midnight.
"The slush probably got them," the dispatcher said. "I know the plows have been out clearing and sanding."
Even though most county employees had Veterans Day off, Olmsted County highway maintenance engineer Kevin Harms said the county’s plows and sand and salt trucks worked Tuesday and were out again today.
A snowplow driven by Gene Enos, 48, of Byron, was involved in a minor accident on Olmsted County Road 3 at U.S. 14 at 11:40 a.m. Tuesday. No citations were issued.
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Area school districts that opted to start two hours late today include Chatfield, Dover-Eyota, Lanesboro, Plainview-Elgin-Millville, Rushford-Peterson, St. Charles, Wabasha-Kellogg and Zumbrota-Mazeppa.
