Waking to a winter wonderland

An elderly woman on Richmond Street woke up, opened her front door and screamed in delight shortly before dawn Thursday. Her shout of joy was heard halfway down the block. Huge flakes of snow were falling in a thick, steady sheet, and a blanket of white covered her yard and car and neighborhood.

Before long, her grandchildren, bundled up for the cold, raced out of the house, giggling, scooped up snow, packed it and tossed it at one another. And soon, Jaylon Magee, 14, was rolling up the base stage of a big snow man. He’d never seen such snow before. He said he’d learned how to make a snowman “from TV.”

Janiya Magee, 4, and Jamya Magee, 15, joined in the fun, and when the snowman was complete, they added twigs for arms, a carrot nose and kumquats for eyes, and posed for a picture of a Christmas time they will surely remember.

All across Washington Parish, similar scenes continued for hours. By 10 a.m., life-sized snowmen sporting fire gear, a Bogalusa T-shirt and palm frond arms and even ice-cream cone ears were spotted around the area. Smaller versions rode through the still-falling snow on the hoods of cars and trucks.

And not only children, but adults, too, lobbed snowballs at one another, laughing while running, dodging, slipping and sliding.

But while the unusual Washington Parish snowfall was unanimously pronounced beautiful, it did present some hazards.

Slushy roads made driving dangerous. And accumulating snow weighed down power lines and tree limbs that stretched above them, some to the breaking point.

At about 10 a.m., two Entergy bucket crews were seen working on lines outside the LSU BMC clinic on Alabama Avenue.

The Bogalusa Public Works Department spread sand on city bridges. Both the Washington Parish and Bogalusa City school systems cancelled classes for the day. And offices throughout the area were closed or operating with “skeleton” crews.

Shortly before noon, Frank Rivet of the National Weather Service in Slidell, said he’d gotten reports of “near five inches of snow in the Bogalusa area.” It was even deeper in Pine, according to residents.

“Temperatures were between 33 and 35 degrees,” said Rivet. “But it fell at such an intense rate, it accumulated even on grassy surfaces, even though the ground was not frozen.”

Bogalusa Director of Public Works James Hall said city crews were out early sanding bridges because the cold air could get up under the spans and make driving over them dangerous.

Washington Parish President Richard Ned Thomas advised everyone to hunker down, enjoy the view and stay safe.

“We’re in a winter wonderland,” he said. “It’s beautiful, if we could just keep people off the roads. We’re hoping it will clear out this afternoon.”

He said he had declared a State of Emergency due to the snow storm and resultant “electrical problems.”

Entergy reported about 500 local customers out early in the morning. Cleco’s numbers in Washington and St. Tammany parishes combined rose from about 250 to slightly more than 5,000 by noon. And Washington St. Tammany Electric reported “numerous” outages at 7:45 a.m.

“In most cases the outages are the result of tree limbs falling and taking down the wire,” said Craig Schimpf, customer service manager for Entergy.

Public Works and Maintenance crews and law enforcement officers helped clear the roadways of fallen trees and limbs and downed power lines. Both parish and city officials said the focus was on safety.

The streets would be cleared as soon as possible, but the debris might remain on the side of the road until a more clement day.

Shortly after noon, law enforcement agencies said heavy snow in Washington Parish could have certainly caused a lot more problems that it had at least at that point.

“I guess people stayed home and the ones that went out were very careful,” said BPD Capt. Joe Culpepper. “We’ve been lucky. But it’s supposed to freeze tonight. And if anybody goes out then, they need to exercise caution, especially over the bridges, even though they’ve got sand.”

WPSO spokesperson Christina Branch said her department had received “several” calls about people sliding off roadways, but that she knew of no serious crashes. She said the SO had been responding to calls from out-of-state people requesting welfare checks on elderly parents.

“We’re going out and making sure everybody’s warm and safe,” said Branch.

So while the snow fell on Washington Parish Thursday afternoon, adding depth to the mantle of white already so deep it crunched under-foot, safety and savoring was key.

Eighty-two-year-old Vergil Mondy of Angie said Thursday’s was the most snow he’d ever seen in his life.

The last recorded snow in the parish fell in December, 2004. But that was only a sprinkling. Nothing like the inches that continued through the day of Dec. 11, 2008.

Officials were in awe and on the job.

“We’re going to stay on top of it,” said Thomas with a smile in his voice. “We were not really expecting this. But my grandchildren love it.”