Kent County prepares for Friday snow

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A rush of winter weather contributed to wrecks and slide-offs all over West Michigan Wednesday night -- and it looks like there is more snow in store for Friday.

Thursday, the Kent County Road Commission trucks and salt were stocked and ready. Officials were watching the forecast and waiting to hit the roads.

Wednesday rush hour turned into mayhem once snow started to fall. Crashes, closures and pile-ups were all over West Michigan.

"It was kind of the first snowfall, so people don't know how to drive in it," said Johnathan Todd, who was on the roads Wednesday.

A crash on Lyon Street in Grand Rapids involved 10 vehicles, including a bus and city truck, but no one was seriously hurt.

"Right now the ground is still warm, so that snow hits it melts and refreezes sheet of ice, we have issues like last night," explained Kent County Road Commission Director Jerry Byrne.

Byrne said there were many reasons for all the crashes and slide-offs Wednesday. The biggest was timing: Snow arrived during evening rush hour, causing issues for drivers and salt trucks.

"The police were calling where they were having accidents on side streets, so we would pull trucks off go to those side streets, come back. It's just slow going. Just like you are driving around going 20 miles an hour, 15 miles an hour, last night so are these big trucks," Byrne explained.

Another issue last night was man-power. The county had 30 trucks on the roads, but could have used more.

Byrne said it's simply hard to predict what will be needed when dealing with Mother Nature.

The Road Commission says it is still deciding if it will need more trucks on duty Friday.

Stay with Storm Team 8 for the latest on weather conditions and 24 Hour News 8 complete road coverage.