Last week's winter storm kept Indiana State Police busy. Troopers from the Lowell Post say they responded to 153 property damage crashes, 28 injury crashes, 83 slide-offs and 157 calls to assist motorists from Thursday afternoon through Sunday morning.
State police also report five incidents involving impaired drivers, including one who allegedly crashed into the I-65 scale house near Lowell on Christmas Eve, sending a 20-foot steel gate slicing through the length of the vehicle.
The LaPorte County Sheriff's Office says it responded to 72 slide-offs, 22 property damage crashes and two injury crashes. Deputies believe the totals could have been much higher, but many residents heeded their warnings to stay off the roads.
The National Weather Service says an Arctic cold front caused temperatures to drop over 30 degrees in 18 hours. While the actual snow totals were low in most places, some areas got six to 16 inches of lake effect snow. Some of the strongest winds were measured on Lake Michigan near Michigan City, where gusts reached 60 miles per hour Friday morning.
