• Campus opens after a two day shutdown
• City officials delt with a paralyzing snowfall and cold
• Police delt with less crime and instead worked to help stranded motorists
Businesses lost customers, the hospital saw an increase in patients and police handled stranded vehicles through a snowstorm that shutdown Muncie on Monday and campus for two days.
The community was hit with temperatures as low as negative 13 degrees without windchill and more than a foot of snow.
Here is a look at what has happened the past two days.
CAMPUS
The storm caused one cold related incident on campus in the DeHority Complex, said George Edwards, associate director facilities.
A radiator in the entryway broke Monday night, and staff repaired it Tuesday morning.
Across campus, the university extended the closure due to frozen locks, drifting snow, high wind chill, difficult roads and other factors, said a university spokesperson.
“We ultimately felt it would be better to delay opening offices a bit longer,” Tony Proudfoot said.
CITY
Anytime a city experiences a weather emergency and it paralyzes a city, Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler said the weather will impact businesses.
“By us being proactive in the way that we were, we were able to immediately have plows out on the streets dealing with [the weather, and] we got the streets open a lot sooner for our businesses,” Tyler said. “Overall, businesses probably lost about a day of retail opportunities.”
In the beginning of 2013, an agreement was created with the sanitary district that allowed the city to pool resources and use their vehicles to get more plows to clear the streets.
Scotty’s Brewhouse manager Justin Mayes said the first couple days of classes generally brings in a lot more people to the restaurant than on normal days, an opportunity he missed out on this semester by closing early Sunday evening and all day Monday.
The severe weather not only created a dent in customer numbers, but lengthened delivery times for businesses that offer delivery, such as Greek’s Pizzeria, creating some angry customers.
“The fact of the matter is that delivery takes time,” Clay Carter, a Greek’s Pizzeria employee, said.
CRIME
Crime during the snowstorm in 1978 included burglaries, the Daily News reported at the time, however this storm failed to bring the same influx in crime.
“[We’ve had] a bunch of standard motorists and a few domestic [disputes], people getting cabin fever evidently,” Muncie Sgt. Jason Webber said.
Potential crimes like burglaries were probably deterred by the bitter cold, Webber said. The most common issue faced by officers was helping stranded motorists.
“Crime wise, it hasn’t been too eventful,” Webber said.
HOSPITAL
IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital saw an influx of patients, however, it was not immediate, said the senior administrative director of critical patient services.
Lynne Bunch said most patients come in after the storm clears moves on.
“There have been a lot of flu-like symptoms coming in, but I think they have just been home the last couple of days and now, they think they can get out,” Bunch said.
She said she expects to handle the extra patients without too much trouble.
“If we start seeing injuries, it’s going to get worse,” she said.
INDIANA AND PURDUE UNIVERSITIES
All Indiana University campuses were closed from 9 p.m. Sunday until 9 p.m. Monday, The Indiana Daily Student reported.
Purdue University suspended normal operations for two days because of the severe weather, The Purdue Exponent reported.
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