GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — State Police are bracing for blizzard-like conditions across much of the region this weekend.
Troopers had to deal with the first major winter storm of the season this week, and they say they're fully prepared to handle this coming weekend's weather.
According to Wisconsin State Police Sergeant Dan Diedrich, troopers responded to 97 motorist assist calls, 72 vehicles in a ditch, one fleet vehicle being damaged, 64 property damage crash calls, 10 personal injury crashes, five crashes with unknown injuries and one deadly crash in the northwestern portion of the state near Eau Claire.
Sergeant Diedrich says those calls happened between 7 a.m. on Tuesday to 7 a.m. on Thursday, and those are statewide numbers.
Sergeant Diedrich says during that same time period, troopers responded to 21 motorist assist calls, 12 vehicle run-off calls, 12 property damage crashes and two personal injury crashes across the northeast Wisconsin region.
He says the first major winter storm of the season could have been much worse, and he encourages people to avoid traveling this weekend if they can.
"But what we've seen statewide, I think Wisconsin drivers of heeding some of the warnings and really making an effort to limit the number of crashes and incidents in general," Sergeant Diedrich said.
Sergeant Diedrich says more troopers will be patrolling Wisconsin highways Friday night and throughout the weekend as the second blast of winter moves across the entire state.
As schools begin canceling and posting delays this Friday, Sergeant Diedrich says State Police are bracing for a busy Friday evening and weekend.
"Obviously going into the weekend, people don't have to worry about too much school or work. So, maybe we could reduce travel altogether. So, it'll kind of make it easier for the folks who have to travel, and obviously our responding crews, whether it's from a law enforcement perspective or from the people who are plowing the roads or other emergency service-type positions," Sergeant Diedrich said.
