Retrospect: March storm hit Jay County

Twenty-five years ago this week the calendar was edging toward spring but Mother Nature was having other ideas.

The March 20, 1996, edition of The Commercial Review featured coverage of an overnight snowstorm that dropped about 4 inches of heavy, wet snow and 0.6 inches of freezing rain in Jay County.

The result was a freezing mess that closed schools, brought down power lines and put the county in a state of emergency. Thousands of customers were left without electricity.

The state of emergency was to stay in effect until power had been restored, which was expected to take several days.

“It’s not due to the road conditions,” said Tami Mann of Jay County Emergency Management Agency. “It’s due to the power lines.”

About half of Jay County REMC’s customers were without power. Poles and lines were reported to be down on county roads 100 South, 300 South, 300 North and 400 North.

“We’ve got poles and lines down from Winchester to Decatur,” said John Samples of Jay County REMC. “This is, without a doubt, the worst we’ve seen in 30 years.”

American Electric Power crews were also working to repair poles and lines.

Jay County Highway Department superintendent Robert Rawlings said plows were out but were struggling to get down stone roads.

“The worst part of it is, with all the rain we got yesterday, the gravel roads are really soft,” he said. “We’re off the gravel roads. I’m not sure how we’re going to handle it.”