Emergency coordinator: 'We can't get people to stay off the roads'

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The good news: Most of the motorists stranded overnight in the region’s holiday blizzard had been rescued before sundown Sunday.

Unfortunately, Curry County Emergency Management Coordinator Dan Heerding said, there have been about 20 more vehicles stranded since late Sunday afternoon.

Clay Moyers, a Clovis district wildlife officer, lends a hand pulling stranded motorists out of the snow on Sunday near the 1600 block of Manana. (Staff photo by Crystal Mondragon)

“It seems like as we get one clear, we get another one stuck,” he said. “Now we’re getting reports of a steady stream from Texas trying to come through. We just can’t get people to stay off the roads.”

A jackknifed truck was blocking traffic near Texico on U.S. 60-70-84 about 5:15 p.m., Heerding said, further complicating matters.

No fatalities had been reported during the storm and officials said ambulances had been able to make all of the local calls for service. One county request for medical service was not completed; Heerding declined to provide details, citing privacy laws.

The top priority for emergency responders at 5:30 p.m., Heerding said, was a stranded vehicle on State Highway 467 south of Cannon Air Force Base that had been there “for several hours.”

Heerding said responders had not been able to make visual contact with the vehicle’s occupants and had lost communication with them several hours earlier. “We’re hoping their cell phone battery went dead,” he said.

Every time help tried to reach the area, “the rescuers ended up in the ditch,” Heerding said.

Cannon Air Force Base officials were trying to locate that vehicle Sunday night and rescue workers were also waiting on help from a Department of Homeland Security snowcat.

The snowcat is a “fully tracked all-terrain vehicle” from Albuquerque that authorities hope will help free vehicles from snow drifts as high as 6 to 8 feet, said Curry County Sheriff Wesley Waller in an email.

Heerding said the snowcat — equipment made available when Gov. Susana Martinez declared a “state of emergency” for the region on Sunday — was expected in the county early this evening.

While the biggest problem for emergency workers on Sunday afternoon was the blowing wind — gusts up to 50 mph were recorded along with sustained winds around 30 to 40 mph, stirring up about 2 inches of snow — conditions were expected to get worse tonight.

Heerding said the National Weather Service was expecting another 2 to 4 inches of snow to go with high winds before the storm system begins to taper off after midnight.

The city of Clovis had set up a shelter at the Roy Walker Recreation Center, 316 W. Second, primarily for stranded travelers. Heerding said about five people were at the shelter early Sunday evening.

More than 4,000 Clovis residents were without power early Sunday evening. And while that number was down from 9,000 early in the afternoon, Xcel Energy spokesman Wes Reeves said it’s likely many will not have power restored until Monday.

Roads remained closed around the region on Sunday night and most government agencies, as well as private businesses, planned to close on Monday.

At a glance

Road conditions: nmroads.com

Anyone needing emergency assistance:

In Portales: 575-356-4404

In Clovis: 575-763-9472

To report power outages:

Xcel Energy: 800-895-1999 or the automated outage reporting tool at www.xcelenergy.com/outages

Farmers Electric: 575-762-4466