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Blizzard, cold test residents and civil servants; cold to let up Wednesday (PHOTOS)

RURAL MASON CITY – The weather has been brutal during yet another polar vortex in the winter of 2013-2014, and it has tested residents and civil servants alike.

Deputies and police officers as well as emergency responders were in full force keeping people safe, rescuing stranded motorists, and generally lending a hand. The weather was so bad that most local schools were called off on Friday, January 24th and Monday, January 27th. Mason CIty police told residents to stay home and avoid in-town travel.

On on of the most dangerous evenings in recent memory, January 26th, 2014, Cerro Gordo county deputies rescued Franklin County Ambulance Crew members after they put their ambulance in a ditch south of Mason City. In white-out conditions and extremely slippery road surfaces, deputies Mitchell Kruse and Nathan Gruis picked up and transported the crew to Mason City.

On the way to assist the crew, an elderly female was located laying in a ditch, “extremely cold and unresponsive”. She was transported by the deputies to the the Mercy Hospital Emergency Room.

Interstates and less-traveled roadways were dangerous.  On I-35 south of Mason City on Sunday, six Mason City residents were injured after their van was rear-ended by a semi-truck in white-out conditions.  They had slowed down because the driver could not see the road.

It was a fatal weather event.  In Forest City, two teens sisters – Tiffany Banta, 19, and Chyann Banta, 15 – died in an auto accident on an ice-covered county road B-14 as their car collided with another.

Animals were not immune to the suffering, and police gave attention when they could to their suffering as well.  On a bitterly cold Monday afternoon, police made a welfare check on a cow just outside Mason City near NIACC.  The officer spoke with the owner of the cow, and according to the officer “he told me that he has tried to get that cow out of the field for past 2 years and has never been able to do it. He feeds her every day and his vet has said that she can handle the winter elements.”

The cold weather is expected to last through Tuesday –  as schools in the area are delayed that day – with warmer temps up to 30 degrees expected Wednesday.

PHOTOS:

Congressman Leonard Boswell, Casey's CEO Bob Myers and Principal Financial Group CEO Larry Zimpleman join Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds in announcing the Iowa Business Council's pledge of 2,500 jobs for veterans! ‪#‎iagov‬ ‪#‎ialegis‬
Congressman Leonard Boswell, Casey’s CEO Bob Myers and Principal Financial Group CEO Larry Zimpleman join Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds in announcing the Iowa Business Council’s pledge of 2,500 jobs for veterans! ‪#‎iagov‬ ‪#‎ialegis‬
Abandoned car on Highway 65, north of Mason City
Abandoned car on Highway 65, north of Mason City
Digging out Monroe Park
Digging out Monroe Park
Minnesota tagged vehicle on Mallard
Minnesota tagged vehicle on Mallard
Minnesota tagged vehicle on Mallard
Minnesota tagged vehicle on Mallard
Thrush Ave. north of MC
Thrush Ave. north of MC
Plowing snow
Plowing snow
Residens dig out
Residens dig out
Residens dig out
Residens dig out
Snowplows in Mason City
Snowplows in Mason City
Snowplows on still drifting Highway 65 North of Mason City
Snowplows on still drifting Highway 65 North of Mason City
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