GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — For Gene Felty of HD Towing and Recovery, the Winter Storm sweeping through West Michigan has left the tow truck driver of over 20 years and his colleagues busy.
Felty says the calls for service haven't slowed down, adding that his total calls since the beginning of the storm have neared a hundred.
"In the high 90's," said Felty. "We stay busy. Just about every other driver does that many calls too, at our place, in this weather."
Felty said on top of their regular calls for service, they've been towing people out of front yards and off of the highway.
Deputies from the Kent County Sheriff's Office say that highway calls for slideoffs and accidents have been frequent, with the most difficult areas for visibility being on I-96 between Kent and Ionia Counties — and on the East Beltline.
On Thursday, Central Dispatch received more than 1,000 calls for service, Friday had 847 total calls, and Saturday, over 460 calls. While not every call was weather-related, 'a significant amount' of those were, according to Sgt. Eric Brunner with the Kent County Sheriff's Office.
The Michigan State Police Sixth District that covers Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon Counties say from Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon, troopers responded to 47 accidents.
For Felty, whose no stranger to bad conditions, he repeated the warning given to drivers this time every year.
Slow down, and stay safe.
"Even though people are trying to take it easy and go slow, you get your occasional person that's speeding by, and usually they're the person that ends up in the ditch," said Felty. "Or they scare another driver like a young person, and they go off into the ditch, ya know? But it happens to the best of us."
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