Please stay home! Wrecks adding up in Wichita area as weather officials issue warning

Wrecks are adding up in the Wichita area as the roads ice over, and road conditions are expected to get worse.

The National Weather Service in Wichita is warning drivers to stay home and the Wichita Police Department has issued its emergency accident reporting plan, which allows people involved in non-injury wrecks where the vehicles are still operational to exchange information and report the wreck later at a police substation.

“If you can stay home, we recommend that you do,” WPD said in a Facebook post. “If you must be out, please allow extra time and distance to ensure you arrive safely. Please be cognizant of emergency responders as they also try to navigate the weather and roadways to respond to your calls for service.”

The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office also implemented its emergency accident reporting plan for wrecks in the county.

Wichita started to see freezing drizzle about 7 a.m. Saturday.

“We cannot stress this enough, law enforcement is working many, many accidents across metro Wichita, please stay home!” NWS in Wichita said on social media at 9:14 a.m.

The NWS also shared a video of an 18-wheeler that was sideways on I-135 in Wichita.

Wichita is expected to have a wintry mix throughout Saturday and into Sunday. Wichita is forecast to see between one-tenth and a quarter-inch of ice.

It’s forecast to turn into snow about 9 a.m. Sunday. The prediction is for Wichita to get two to six inches of snow. Nine to 16 inches are forecast for Salina.

Road conditions, as of noon Saturday, show most highways across the state already being affected by winter weather. The Kansas Department of Transportation said it could not pre-treat the roads ahead of the storm in the Wichita area because the forecast called for rain, which would wash away the treatment.

But it’s not just the highways causing problems. A tanker driver had minor injuries after crashing into a bridge on MacArthur Road near South 343rd Street West, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office said at 11:40 a.m.

Below-zero wind chills are also forecast in the Wichita area for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Drivers in accidents within Wichita that meet the EARP criteria can exchange information and then make a report at a police substation from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Here are the substations:

Patrol West, 661 N. Elder

Patrol South, 211 E. Pawnee

Patrol East, 350 S, Edgemoor

Patrol North, 3015 E. 21st St.

For non-injury and driveable wrecks in the county, which would fall under the sheriff’s office, exchange information and then call the sheriff’s office at 316-660-3760 to arrange filing a report.

Winter storm possible in Wichita this weekend. Here’s how to avoid freezing pipes

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