Travel warning issued for over half of Indiana counties – Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather | Indiana Traffic

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Over half of Indiana’s counties were under travel warnings Monday.

At noon, 47 of Indiana’s 92 counties were under travel warnings, according to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

The National Weather Service at Indianapolis said that Indianapolis received 11.1″ of snow during the two-day storm. Columbus recorded central Indiana’s highest snow total, with 14.8″ of accumulation.

With snowfall totals surpassing 10 inches and wind chill temperatures forecasted to be below zero, the Democrat mayor issued a declaration of local disaster emergency for Marion County. The Metropolitan Emergency Services Agency–Marion County Emergency Management, in consultation with the Office of the Mayor and the Indianapolis Department of Public Works (DPW), upgraded Marion County’s travel status to a travel warning effective immediately.

Many schools, government entities and other organizations have announced they will be closed Monday on the WISHTV.com Closings and Delays page.

“This afternoon, I joined Indy DPW crews out plowing our roadways and saw firsthand the heavy snowfall and extremely cold temperatures making it especially challenging to keep our local roadways clear,” Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said in a statement issued Sunday night. “With the potential for blowing snow overnight, conditions are expected to remain unsafe. For that reason, together with emergency management officials, we are upgrading our travel status to a warning effective immediately. We ask community members to stay home and safe overnight and at least through tomorrow evening.”

A warning is the highest level of local travel status, restricting travel to emergency management, public safety, health care workers, and other essential personnel, such as utility employees.

During a travel warning, people should refrain from local travel, comply with necessary emergency measures, cooperate with public officials and disaster in executing emergency operations plans, and obey and comply with the lawful directions of properly identified public safety officials.

Indianapolis officials will provide any update on travel conditions in Marion County at noon on Monday. This winter storm is among the snowiest two-day periods in Indianapolis history and the largest in more than a decade.