Record Snow Slams Lee's RV
Thu Dec 31, 2009
Author: Lee Litchfield
We got slammed with a blizzard all day on Christmas Eve. The weather forecast called for 6 to 10 inches, but more often than not, things fizzle to a few flurries or an inch or two of snow. We had planned on being open Dec. 24, but only to 3:00 and with a skeleton crew. We decided to just close all together with the weather forecast.
We changed the recorded message to say we would be closed and put it up on the marquee sign. It wouldn't have mattered, because I don't think anyone would have showed up! We got slammed with argueably the worst blizzard ever. It was the most snowfall (over 14 inches) in recorded history for a 24-hou Oklahoma City. Winds were in the 40-50 mph range with some gusts over 60 mph. The snow was going sideways.
There were several 20-car pileups and they closed down several highways including I-40. One was a 50-car on I-40 that included police cars and an ambulance. Hundreds of vehicles were left abandoned in ditches and in the middle of the road! The National Guard was called on to inspect cars for people trapped and to get them to shelter. Wind chills were well below zero.
There were some 4-foot plus drifts at the dealership, but we've cleared most of it away. We can now get to the inventory and service can get units in and out of the bays. Unfortunately, we left some fold downs up and some of the bed ends collapsed under the weight of the snow. One didn't have the back jacks down and it flipped, crushing the bed and the back lifter arms. Total damage looks to be about $10K.
