Some light snowfall is possible in Wayne and surrounding counties today, but any amounts should remain under an inch, mostly on grassy and elevated surfaces. A winter storm system is expected to move mostly to the west and south of the southern Illinois region, with higher snowfall amounts expected toward the St. Louis area and areas along the Kentucky-Tennessee border. Once the precipitation moves out today, mainly dry weather is expected for most of next week, with colder weather towards the latter part of the week.
The Illinois Department of Public Health is reporting 2,589,640 total cases of the coronavirus in Illinois as of this morning and 29,099 total deaths. The southern region has a positivity rate of 15.6 percent as of January 10th, up from 15.3 percent on January 9th. Reports from Marion County indicated their health department recorded four COVID-19 related deaths, bringing the total for the county since the pandemic began to 185. Of Illinois’ total population, 74 percent have received at least one vaccine dose and 65 percent are fully vaccinated, according to information from the Centers for Disease Control.
State police reported an accident early Friday morning that injured a St. Louis man on I-64 westbound just east of Mt. Vernon, IL. 64-year-old Michael Stapleton was headed westbound and for unknown reasons left the right side of the roadway and hit a tree with the front of his vehicle. Stapleton had to be extricated from the wreckage, and was flown by helicopter to an Evansville, IN hospital with serious injuries. The accident was reported at 12:15 Friday morning.
Fairfield Memorial Hospital has provided an update on its expansion project. This week, the mechanical, plumbing and electrical contractors were working on the finishing and punch list items. The flooring contractors continue to lay flooring on the 1st floor and have started on the stairways. Demolition continues in parts of the existing building to be able to connect corridors to the new building. The drywall contractors are doing the finishing details on the 1st floor and the finishing paint jobs are being done on the 2nd floor.
Area river stages this morning: Little Wabash River east of Fairfield is at 14.92 feet. Flood stage is 17 feet. At Clay City the stage is 7.9 feet. Flood stage is 18 feet. At Carmi the stage is 17.61 feet. Flood stage is 27 feet. The Skillet Fork at Wayne City is at 5.6 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet. The Wabash River at Mt. Carmel is at 17.61 feet. Flood stage is 27 feet.