(LISTEN): Mid-Missouri tow truck drivers staying busy in ice storm

The National Weather Service’s (NWS) winter weather advisory for Columbia and mid-Missouri remains in effect until 6 pm this evening.

NWS St. Louis meteorologist Lydia JaJa says the freezing rain should exit Columbia and Jefferson City within the next 30 minutes. ABC-17’s Marina Diaz from our news partner KMIZ was in Kingdom City this morning covering a deadly crash that closed westbound I-70. Marina tells 939 the Eagle that she saw numerous semis and other vehicles that had crashed in the ice before 10 am.

“I was driving from Kingdom City to Columbia and on my drive we counted 13 cars and semi-trucks that were in the grass and like slid off the roadways. Some of them had extensive damage and most of them were semi-trucks,” says Diaz.

Marina had a difficult time standing up during her live shots this morning near Kingdom City.

“Our photographer, he was carrying our gear back to the car at one point and he slipped. And we were on gravel and you would think gravel would give you a little more traction with all the rocks and stuff. But even that was completely iced over. It was hard to just stand there, let alone walk. Earlier this morning, I slid down my driveway,” Diaz says.

Ice and freezing rain continues this afternoon to our east, in Montgomery, Warren and St. Charles counties. Keep your radio tuned to 939 the Eagle for updated forecast information.