By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — It appears Kosciusko County avoided the worst from a massive winter storm that swept through the region Thursday and Friday.
While temperatures and wind chills fell to dangerous levels and many roads were snow-covered and slick, police said there were no traffic accidents involving critical injuries Thursday night or Friday.
A spokesperson for the Kosciusko County dispatch who worked much of Friday said she was unaware of any serious accidents.
Meanwhile, dispatchers, police and wrecker services were kept busy with fender benders, slide-offs and abandoned vehicles.
A spokesperson for Fellowship Missions said they had a handful of people seek shelter from the cold on Thursday and Friday.
Kosciusko County received several inches of snow — far less than areas to the north where lake effect snow stepped up Friday and created dangerous driving conditions north of US 6.
Several major roads in the South Bend area were closed after heavy snow and ice led to numerous accidents.
In Michigan, I-94 was closed in Berrien County near Watervliet after police reported a pileup of more than a dozen vehicles.
In Ohio, four people are dead and numerous others injured after a 50-vehicle crash along the Ohio Turnpike in Sandusky County.
According to Yahoo News, more than 11,000 flights in the U.S. were delayed or canceled Friday, according to the tracking site FlightAware.
The storm affected nearly half of the United States, with more than 1 million customers losing power as a result of the storm.
