Police Ask Drivers to Stay Away From Nappanee

by Sarah Rice (srice@wsbt.com)

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Police Ask Drivers to Stay Away From Nappanee

By WSBT News1

Story Created: Oct 20, 2007 at 9:38 PM EST

Story Updated: Oct 24, 2007 at 7:35 PM EST

(WSBT) Cleanup continues in southern Elkhart County in the wake of Thursday's massive storm. Now, as hundreds of volunteers work to help piece their lives back together, others are asking people to stay away.

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Crowds continue to grow around the most heavily damaged areas, as volunteers work to offer assistance and check on family and friends. But the increased crowd is also causing some major traffic problems, particularly at the intersection of U.S. 6 and State Road 19.

U.S 6 also remains closed between State Road 19 and State Road 15, and that's causing a traffic nightmare for some drivers.

From buggies to big rigs, it's an intersection that's no stranger to heavy traffic.

"It's pretty busy. Extremely busy," said one driver sitting in traffic.

But officials were forced to shut down the road so crews can continue to work to restore power.

"U.S. 6 opened up last night," said Indiana State Police Sgt. Trent Smith." "There's some lane restrictions. That kind of comes and goes with that because NIPSCO is still in the process of putting up some of the major power lines."

It was stop and go for most of Saturday afternoon, but as evening rolled around, traffic began to back up — at some points, reaching up to a half mile.

"It's crazy," said one driver.

"It's hard to get through. We've had to detour around a different way," said another.

"It's not good. Not good. I mean, you're detouring miles around town just to get to the store. It was crazy," agreed another.

Police are offering drivers a piece of advice.

"if you don't live in the area, unless you have some specific business to do here or unless you're coming out here to help family members or friends like that, then just please stay away at this point in time because it's clogging the roads up a little bit," said Sgt. Smith.

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