John Schutt of Lexington Township uses a broom to unbury his pickup Thursday morning, after Mother Nature dumped 10-14 inches of snow on the area overnight. (Photo by Margaret Whitmer)

So bad that the 10-14 inches caused the Thumb's Up Snowmobile Club to cancel their meeting.

So bad that three police cars and a road commission truck got stuck, and tow trucks were advised to get off the road.

All schools in the county cancelled classes on Thursday, activities were called off, and the doors on the County Courthouse in Sandusky were locked.

"Lots of plugged roads, lots of vehicles stuck in roads and along roads," said Dale Stolicker, assistant road commissioner engineer-manager about driving conditions on Wednesday and Thursday.

Crews were still opening side roads on Thursday afternoon.

"We're trying to punch holes in them today (Thursday); tomorrow spend the day widening them," he said.

A county truck plowed the way for a fuel truck on Townsend Road near Old-51 when "a lady ran out of fuel for heat," Stolicker reported.

A county truck had to be pulled out of the snow Thursday morning, on Old-51 near Washington Road. And three patrol cars got stuck Wednesday night - a state police cruiser on M-46 near Stringer Road, and sheriff's patrol cars west of Peck and in Lexington Heights, said Undersheriff Garry Biniecki.

"It was pretty hectic last night (Wednesday)," said Biniecki. "Abandoned cars in the middle of black-topped roads - Snover and M-19, Peck and Melvin, Old-51 - we had four of them (at one time). People just couldn't go any further. They just left them."

Blowing snow caused "zero visibility. The wind built up drifts -four foot high."

He added, "there were no serious injuries. They were going slow enough and simply slipped in the ditch."

Brian Mellstead, president of the Sandusky Board of Education, missed the special board meeting Wednesday night because of the storm.

"Took me two hours to go 50 miles," said Mellstead. "From the office (in Port Huron) to my house (in Sandusky). It was really slow traffic - 35 to 20 miles per hour, roads were slick and snow-covered...quite a few (cars in ditches)."

Mark Caringi, owner of Mark's Towing of Sandusky, started getting calls for his wrecker service Wednesday morning and worked into the evening.

"We got pulled off the road around 8:30 (p.m.). State police said it was too dangerous for us to be pulling vehicles out of ditches - getting too bad to see. I was back on the road by four o'clock in the morning," he said.

Commissioner John Merriman, chairman of the County Board, said the decision to close the courthouse was made after consulting with the road commission, the emergency management services coordinator. and the National Weather Service.

"I really was surprised how deep it was," said Merriman, referring to the amount of snow at his farm in Wheatland Township. He was "right up to my knees" in snow trying to get to the shed where his tractor was stored. "Every foot I took I was going right to my knees. The good news - I don't have cows behind the barn. I don't miss them on a morning like this one," said Merriman, a retired dairy farmer.