A multi-vechicle accident has closed I-69 near mile marker 8.  Not many details are yet available, but the highway is closed.

Stay with WISHTV.com for the latest on this breaking story.

Westbound 70 between Greenfield and  Mt. Comfort is a parking lot.  Radio reports indicated a four car accident.  I’ve been stopped for the past 25 minutes with no movement.  Take it slow today.  Visibility is vitrually nil and the wind from the north is making the snow more horizontal than vertical.  (Update:  I’ve not moved in more than an hour now.  The interstate is now closed.)

The Henry County Commissioners have terminated the Level 3 Transportation Declaration put in effect on January 28^th 2009 due to the snow storm of the 27^th/28^th.

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security has posted a county-by-county map of the latest travel advisories. Click here to see the map.

After the major snow storm that swept through Central Indiana on early Tuesday morning and continued until mid morning Wednesday, the Carmel Street Department crews have completed the plowing of all main, secondary and residential streets.

City employees began plowing main streets at midnight on Monday and continued to work 12 hour shifts throughout the last couple days equipped with 60 pieces of snow removal equipment to clear 465 miles of roads and over 800 cul-de-sacs.

After the main roads and secondary roads were cleared the crews began clearing residential streets starting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening. By 4 a.m. Thursday all roads in the City of Carmel including main, secondary and residential were cleared.

The Street Department crews will continue to monitor the roads throughout the city.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank all the hard-working and dedicated City employees that work hard every day, and put forth extra effort during these emergency situations.  We also appreciate the patience of the community as we work to clear the streets and keep you safe,” said Mayor Jim Brainard.

PLAINFIELD, Ind. — Steady progress continues to be made in restoring power to Indiana customers following significant icing of power lines, trees and highways from a winter storm that struck the Midwest late Tuesday.

As of 8 a.m. Thursday, Duke Energy had resolved approximately 61,000 of the approximately 95,000 power outages in its Indiana service area. About 34,000 customers remain out of service. The hardest work is still ahead, however, as the company begins to tackle time-intensive repairs affecting smaller groups of customers. Restoration work is expected to continue into the weekend. Estimated restoration times for the hardest hit areas include:

Clarksville, Jeffersonville, New Albany-By 11 p.m. Saturday, with some isolated outages into Sunday

Corydon/Salem-By 6 p.m. Saturday

Madison-By 6 p.m. Friday

(Restoration times are estimates for when Duke Energy expects to have storm-related outages restored. There may still be some isolated outages remaining after these times.)

“We have brought in a second wave of additional crews from the region and our companies in the Carolina’s to help speed power restoration,” said Duke Energy Indiana President Jim Stanley. “We’ll have about 1,370 line workers, damage assessors and tree clearing personnel working in southern Indiana today. We appreciate our customer’s patience during this significant outage.

The Connersville District covers Wayne, Henry, Fayette, Union, Rush and Franklin Counties.

I-70 – Both lanes are clear and dry.

State Roads – Clear to slick in spots.

Secondary Roads remain snow covered slick and hazardous with some north – south roads down to one lane with blowing and drifting.

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security has released an updated map of travel adviorsies/snow emergencies.  Several counties are still under a “level 3″ which is defined as: Routine travel or activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation; citizens should use caution or avoid these areas. Schools and businesses may begin to implement their emergency action plans.

http://www.in.gov/dhs/files/sigwx.pdf

Several counties along the Ohio River are under a Level 1 State of Emergency.

State EOC Activation Level
Level III – Active Emergency Conditions – A situation has occurred requiring limited activation of the emergency operations center.

Description of Incident
A severe winter storm system moved through the state dumping heavy snow and freezing rain across most of Indiana. Up to 13 inches of snow and 1 inch of ice reported across central and southern Indiana causing power outages and transportation issues. School systems and county government offices across most of the southern 2/3 of the state were closed. Numerous traffic accidents and hundreds of road closures were reported. Roads in many areas were impassable.

Health, Safety and Security
Confirmed Fatalities:
Two fatalities have been confirmed. A Marengo woman (Crawford County) was killed in a weather-related traffic accident and a resident of Jackson County died while shoveling snow.

Current Situation
Greater Clark County Schools will be closed the rest of the week. The school system has several buildings without power and experienced a large water leak at Jeffersonville High School.

A Wind Chill Advisory has been issued for east-central Indiana; with wind chill temperatures between -10 and -15 F in some areas.

County Emergency Declarations

Level 1 – A state of emergency has been declared by the county commissioners. Travel restricted to emergency personnel only.

Crawford, Dubois, Posey, Spencer, Sullivan, Brown, Washington, Clark, Franklin, Jennings, Scott, Switzerland

Level 2 – Conditions are threatening to the safety of the public. Only essential travel is recommended (to and from work, emergency situations, etc.).

Knox, Vanderburgh, Huntington, Shelby, Delaware, Randolph, Union, Clay, Owen, Jackson, Lawrence, Dearborn, Floyd, Jefferson, Ohio

Level 3 - Routine travel or activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation, citizens should use caution or avoid these areas.

Adams, Steuben, Fountain, Morgan, Blackford, Grant, Henry, Rush, Tipton,

Please visit www.in.gov/dhs for current county emergency situations.

Shelter Operations

• Crawford County, Hillview Christian Church – 74
• Dubois County, Huntingburg Event Center – 2
• Spencer County, Trinity United Methodist Church – 40
• Vanderburgh County, Red Cross Shelter, Evansville – 125
• Vanderburgh County, 4H Center – 78
• Vanderburgh County, Washington United Church of Christ – 75
• Vanderburgh County, Camp Reveal – 6
• Warrick County, St. John’s Catholic School – 23
• Warrick County, Boonville High School – 22

Total Reported Shelter Population: 445
Total Capacity Available: 2,751

Critical Infrastructure and Facilities

Power Outages

• Duke Energy – 39,383 – Expected Restoration: 01/31/2009
• Vectren – 69,344 – Expected Restoration: 02/02/2009
• Clark County REMC – 4,000 – Expected Restoration: 01/30/2009
• Harrison County REMC – 9,500 – Expected Restoration: 1/28/2009
• Dubois REMC – 2,500 – Expected Restoration: 01/30/2009
• Orange County REMC – 500 – Expected Restoration: 01/30/2009
• Jackson County REMC – 3,500 – Expected Restoration: 01/29/2009
• Southeastern Indiana REMC – 2,000 – Expected Restoration: 01/31/2009
• Southern Indiana REMC – 4,500 – Expected Restoration: 01/31/2009

Current Total: 135,227
Peak Total: 187,460

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Carmel’s approximately 60 snow plow vehicles will be working overnight again tonight and continue plowing until all City streets are clear. Crews began an All City plow at about 10:30 a.m. this morning. Crews have been plowing since Tuesday evening as the snow began accumulating. The City appreciates the patience of our community as the process of clearing all streets takes up to 24 hours for the 465 street miles and more than 800 cul-de-sacs in the City.

Due to the large volume of snow that fell overnight Tuesday and into the morning on Wednesday, crews had to continually plow main streets to keep them clear. After the snow stopped falling at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, crews went back and cleared and salted the main streets again and began re-plowing secondary streets as well as all neighborhood streets and cul-de-sacs.  If your street is not clear by 8 a.m. Thursday, January 29, please call the Carmel Street Department at 733-2001 to check on the status of the crews in your area.

The Street Department crews, with the help of Carmel Utility workers and equipment, will continue to monitor the roads throughout the city as we continue the All City plow through the night.