The message from the Missoula County Sheriff's Office on this Monday evening, December 9 is to only travel if necessary, and if you do have to drive, please slow down.

Missoula County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Paige Pavalone said that there have been dozens of reports of slide-offs and vehicle crashes since the heavy snow began falling on Monday morning.

"We have four deputies on patrol today, and they're going to crashes back to back to back," Pavalone said. "Some of these are slide-offs, some are injury crashes, and there has even been one ejection. The roads are treacherous right now and people are traveling way too fast for conditions. The patrol sergeant reached out to me to contact the media and let the public know if you don't have to travel, stay home, because the roads really are that bad."

Pavalone said law enforcement and emergency service personnel are extremely busy.

"Our resources are getting spread really thin," Pavalone said. "We're running out of tow trucks, and we just can't respond to these crashes fast enough. Again, please ask people to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary."

Sheriff's Spokesperson Paige Pavalone

The City of Missoula has also sent out an alert that snowplows are at work, along with deicer and sanding trucks. according to the priority plan. Drivers and bicyclists are advised to slow down and use extreme caution.

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