CLOSE CALL

MAT-SU — A late-in-the-season storm sent winds lashing the Valley and dumped a load of snow Thursday that sent cars and buses — one of which overturned in a ditch — sliding into trouble.

The most dramatic incident of the day came at 8:45 a.m., according to Mat-Su Borough Deputy Director of Emergency Services Clint Vardeman. A school bus with 10 students onboard lost control on slick roads near the intersection of Gail Drive and Sands Drive in the neighborhoods north of Schrock Road and west of Lucille Street.

“Because it was a school bus full of kids we had the world on standby,” Vardeman said, meaning that ambulances from multiple fire services were either en route or ready to go. The borough also made sure air ambulances were available. Most of those resources turned back after responders determined no one was injured.

“It was pretty miraculous,” Vardeman said.

Central Mat-Su Assistant Fire Chief Michael Keenan was running the response operation. He said that the rollover was actually relatively slow-moving.

“The school bus driver said she knew it was coming because she was sliding so she was able to warn the kids,” Keenan said. “They were just able to brace themselves.”

The bus rolled onto its right side in the southbound ditch down a steep embankment at the bottom of a steeper hill. On scene, a trooper worked near the tires while people worked inside the bus. The main door was unusable in that position so students clambered out the back, Keenan said. They were loaded onto a different school bus and went to school as normal.

School district spokeswoman Catherine Esary concurred with Vardeman’s assessment of how fortunate everyone was to escape injury. She said the bus was headed to Tanaina Elementary and that parents were notified via a phone call from either the district or the bus operator.

“They received calls from the district and/or First Student and both the district and First Student then begins to alert the radio stations,” Esary said.

Afternoon routes were set to proceed unchanged, she said, as of mid-morning Thursday.

“I’m sure First Student will — as always — caution their drivers to be careful,” she said.

Just a couple hours later Keenan was back out on another traffic call, this one on the Parks Highway near the railroad bridge north of Wasilla. He said a man and a child were hospitalized in that wreck, which involved a head-on collision between a pickup and a car.

Asked if the call volume was running him ragged, Keenan said it wasn’t too bad.

“It’s just steady,” he said.

Winds caused problems for Matanuska Electric Association, according to the co-op’s Facebook page. MEA reported a transformer blew in Butte, leaving 500 or so customers without power. Another outage in Eagle River added another 540 customers to that total.

MEA said it expect heavy snow in the Willow and Talkeetna areas to cause outages there overnight, urging members to prepare to stay warm and safe.

As of 5 p.m., the National Weather Service was predicting wind and snow with little to no snow accumulation throughout the night in the Valley’s southern reaches. A winter storm warning was in effect in the Susitna Valley until 8 p.m., with the weather service predicting snow and rain in the area.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.