Icy roads cause delays, closings in Mahoning, Shenango valleys

Conditions affected schools and closed two roads briefly.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Icy roads plagued the area, forcing some schools to close or delay starts today.
The roads caused no major traffic tie-ups this morning, according to authorities. City police said they investigated 28 accidents between 6 a.m. Thursday and 8:30 a.m. today.
"It was bad enough [Thursday night] that people should have slowed down to about half of their normal speed. Most of them did," said city police Lt. William Centric, referring to icy road conditions.
The treacherous conditions forced police to close a portion of the Madison Avenue Expressway for two hours Thursday evening. After police called the street department, trucks applied more salt there.
'Slow down'
Anyone who didn't absolutely have to go someplace should have stayed home, Centric said. For those who had to go, he urged, "Slow down. Slow down. Slow down."
The city simply doesn't have enough salt trucks to meet its needs when freezing rain is as bad as it was Thursday evening, he said. Police handled numerous accidents, but Centric said he wasn't aware of anyone suffering a life-threatening injury.
Boardman police were forced to close Mathews Road between Applecrest Drive and South Avenue, where stranded cars had to be towed off the icy road. Roads were icy throughout the township, with dozens of minor accidents, a dispatcher said.
A Warren police dispatcher said roads were becoming slippery there, but no streets had to be closed.
This morning, a spokesman at the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Canfield post reported no trouble and no particular increase in accidents.
In Salem, a heavy coating of ice dragged down electric poles and wires along the 1200 block of East Sixth Street, police said. The utilities collapsed around 1:40 a.m. today.
Ohio Edison crews were called to the scene to clear the wreckage. No power outages were reported, police said.
Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania, Mercer County reported treacherous road conditions across the county this morning, prompting school officials in nearly all public and many private schools to delay the start of classes two hours. Classes started at 10 a.m. in Sharon City School District and at Kennedy Catholic High School in Hermitage.
In Lawrence County, the ice and rainy conditions caused a power outage in downtown New Castle this morning. Penn Power spokesman Bart Spagnola said 163 customers, most downtown businesses, were without electricity until about 8 a.m. The line on Grant Street went down around 7 a.m. Spagnola said there were scattered residential power outages throughout the county because of ice and rain pulling down electric lines and transformers.