ELYRIA — The weather wreaked havoc all over the area during the seemingly unending snowfall that began Thursday.

Early estimates told residents to expect between four and 10 inches of snow. Total snowfall from Thursday through Sunday morning in Lorain County ranged from 12 inches in Carlisle Township to 15 inches in North Ridgeville, Elyria and Oberlin, according to the National Weather Service in Cleveland.

The slick conditions kept city street crews busy plowing and salting. Some cities, such as Avon Lake and Sheffield Lake, reported no weather-related crashes.

“They kept up the roads here pretty good,” a Sheffield Lake police dispatcher said. “Especially the main roads.”

Other areas weren’t so lucky.

The Ohio Highway Patrol’s Elyria post reported 25 crashes over the weekend and at least 44 vehicles slipping into ditches and crashing into snow banks.

“For every crash that we handled, we went to two that were called in as crashes but there wasn’t physical damage,” a highway patrol dispatcher said. “This was one of the busiest weekends I’ve ever worked.”

Medina post troopers were also busy, handling 43 crashes and more than 40 pull-outs of disabled vehicles.

Other communities, including Elyria, Lorain and North Ridgeville, didn’t have crash information available, but all said they’d had weather-related accidents.

Fritz’s Garage in Lorain had 20 to 25 calls, a company dispatcher said.

“We had a lot of winch-outs,” she said. “A lot of people were stuck. … People need to slow down a little. When the roads are icy, they’ll put you right in a ditch.”

High temperatures are expected to remain in the low 30s throughout this week with lows in the 20s and a 20- to 40-percent chance of snow every day, according to the weather service.

Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or acastelli@chroniclet.com.

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