Heavy snow closes roads, schools, businesses, government services

After this weekend’s storms, all area counties and most of southern Indiana have declared red travel warning restrictions.

That means roads are restricted to emergency vehicles only. Officials are urging you to stay off of the road not just for your own safety, but also for rescue workers and snow plow drivers working to try to clear the streets.

The red travel warning restrictions include Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings, Johnson and Shelby counties. You are directed to refrain from all travel, comply with necessary emergency measures, cooperate with public officials and obey and comply with the lawful directions of properly identified officers.

Officials are also urging you not to call 911 to check on roads, travel restrictions or closings. Instead, you can go to https://511in.org for up to date information on state roads and highways.

Local government offices are largely closed today due to the extreme weather conditions. That includes Bartholomew County, the city of Columbus, Edinburgh, North Vernon, Seymour and Shelbyville.

In Columbus, trash and recycling routes will be running at least a day late all week, with no routes collected today. ColumBUS Transit and ColumBUS Call-A-Bus will not be in operation today.

Seymour and Shelbyville have also canceled trash collection for today.

Local schools are also closed today. You can find school closings on our website here and other cancelation announcements here on our website.

The state of Indiana is under a statewide disaster declaration and state of emergency. Governor Mike Braun issued the declarations Saturday. In a statement, Braun said he directed the Indiana Department of Homeland Security to coordinate all of the state’s emergency response efforts, as well as ordering all executive branch agencies to provide any and all assistance and resources requested by the department.

President Trump also approved an emergency declaration for Indiana due to the storm