Historic Storm Strikes Scottsville
The Winter Snow & Ice Storm of Jan. 2026 turned Scottsville (and several other places) into a Winter Wonderland almost good enough for a postcard. Photo by Chris Cole.
By Damon Stone,
Staff Writer
Throughout the weekend of Saturday, January 24 and Sunday, January 25, Scottsville, Allen County and a large portion of the country, saw a historic winter storm, with the region being coated in ice and snow.
David Burch, the mayor of Scottsville, explained that, at the time of writing, there are still several houses out of power in the city alone, being about 1,000 people, according to the Tri-County Electric website.
“I know Tri-County’s bringing in reinforcements to try to get people back on power,” Burch said. “Before this all started, we salted what we could do, and scraped, but right now, with the way the weather is, we’ve pretty well discontinued that for now, because it’s not effective, we’re just responding.”
Maysville Road is one of several county roads not listed as a priority, with several residents being without power from the storm. Earlier on Sunday, the pictued portion of the road was impassable, due to a tree blocking the road. Photo by Damon Stone.
Burch expressed his immense thanks to first responders for providing rides to warming centers, including the Victory Hill Dream Center and Scottsville Fire Station 2 on New Gallatin Road.
“As far as what we’re doing right now, we’re just responding to any type of emergency,” Burch explained. “With this kind of weather, it’s really hard to get anything done. For instance, with our garbage routes, we’re not running today, and we’re probably not going to run (Tuesday).”
Burch said that by doing so, it helps to ensure the safety of both the workers, and the residents, with ice proving to be a slipping hazard, with plans to go to the holiday schedule for garbage trucks, running two trucks and two crews.
A City of Scottsville worker scrapes Tabitha Drive Saturday afternoon as snow continues to fall from winter storm Fern. The storm started Saturday with snow before transitioning to freezing rain and sleet Saturday night into Sunday. Photo by Don Meador.
“It’s just too dangerous to be out,” Burch stated. “To try to mobilize people to get on and off of garbage trucks where it’s still pretty bad, but also (I don’t want) customers to feel like they have to get their trash to the curb, because we’d have to come back, or it’d be too dangerous.”
Burch added that the city has the equipment and employees, and that they could run double routes on the garbage, once road conditions improve.
Burch added that if someone needs to pay utility bills, instead of trekking to city hall, they can pay online at https://www.cityofscottsville.org/Blog/3/utilities, and being able to pay there or on the app.
“I think sometimes, if we’re open, people feel like they need to be here, and sometimes that puts them in peril with these roads,” Burch said. “(…) Right now, our plans are to stand by, people are ready to go, we’re ready to go, if necessary, but with the way the temperature is right now, and in the next few days, if need be, we’ve got somebody on call 24/7, but right now, with all the electricity out in the city, it’s kind of posing a challenge for some of these folks.”
Seven mature white pine trees are no match to what this epic storm has thrown on 160 million people from Mexico to Maine. Sounds like shotguns going off could be heard from every direction. With 2.5 inches of snow on the ground, sleet, rain and freezing rain, walking has been treacherous. Over half an inch was recorded Sunday morning here on Old Hickory Lane. Photo by Bonnie Waggoner.
Burch added that if anyone has any questions on the online bill payment, they can reach out to him through email, [email protected], and/or on Facebook Messenger, to avoid a potentially dangerous trip to the night drop box at city hall.
In the event of any immediate or imminent emergency, Burch urged to call 911.
More pictures will be available in the physical edition of the newspaper, and in the photos section of the website at a later date.
One of the many trees that had been struck by the frigid cold and freezing rain had fallen around the 1500 block on Cemetery Road. One local resident braved the weather to help cut and remove the tree. Photo by Patricia Taylor.
