Patrol: Slow down, be careful

The Nebraska State Patrol asked motorists to use caution on the state's wintry roads after two days of weather-related crashes killed four people.

Travel no faster than conditions allow, the patrol said. Wear a seat belt. Never use cruise control in poor conditions. And allow plenty of distance to react.

Icy roads and limited visibility since Sunday contributed to four deaths, authorities said, including three on Monday within three hours of one another.

Chain-reaction crashes, road closures and stranded drivers dotted area roadways.

In Iowa, southbound Interstate 29 was closed from Sioux City to Onawa, Iowa. The road was expected to remain closed into this morning, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Troubles began Sunday, when Morgan Klein, a 20-year-old Omahan, was killed in a chain reaction crash on Interstate 80. Her car was struck by a semitrailer, according to Capt. Don Young II of the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office. Both vehicles were westbound on I-80 between Omaha and Lincoln.

Klein, a 2007 graduate of Westside High School and junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln would have turned 21 Monday.

Young said other people were hurt, but no information was immediately available on the extent of their injuries. About 25 vehicles littered I-80, he said.

Then, about 4 a.m. Monday, a 35-year-old Schuyler woman was killed in a rollover accident on U.S. Highway 30 west of Fremont, Neb. Dodge County Sheriff Steve Hespen said the woman lost control of her pickup near County Road 19. She wasn't wearing a seat belt and was partially ejected after her vehicle ran off the north side of the highway, Hespen said. Her identity was withheld Monday evening, pending family notification.

Kim D. Kubo, 45, of Norfolk died about 5:20 a.m., after his vehicle rolled near the intersection of Highway 81 and 829th Road, just east of Madison, Madison County Sheriff Vern Hjorth said.

Kubo survived the initial wreck, got out of his vehicle and was walking away when another motorist struck his vehicle, shoving it into him. Conditions were “significant contributing factors,” authorities said.

Daniel Thompson, 57, of Lincoln, died when his Ford F-250 rolled about 6 a.m., after he lost control on eastbound I-80. The truck landed on its roof. Thompson and his wife, Annette Thompson, were wearing seat belts. She was not injured, the Nebraska State Patrol said.

Thompson was head pastor of Crossroads Church in Lincoln, a nondenominational Christian church he helped establish.

Poor conditions forced officials to close the West Dodge Expressway for much of the morning Monday. Road crews used the time to remove disabled and stranded vehicles from the area and place extra salt and brine solution on the roadway.

State snowplows stopped work Monday morning in northeastern Nebraska because of white-out conditions and blowing snow, said Lt. Dan Wilson of the State Patrol's Norfolk office.

Abandoned vehicles were buried in some drifts along the highways, he said.

Wilson said his patrol officers were rescuing motorists — who either failed to heed or disregarded warnings about difficult conditions. In some cases, road crews had to plow paths for rescuers, Wilson said.

On Sunday, a 14-vehicle pileup west of Beatrice sent six people to the hospital, officials there said. Beatrice Fire Capt. Jake Carrel said rescue crews had trouble finding all the vehicles.

Cold temperatures are expected to persist throughout the week, but winds this morning were forecasted to subside.

World-Herald staff writers Kevin Cole, Nancy Gaarder, Jason Kuiper and Leslie Reed contributed to this report. The report also includes material from the Associated Press.

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