Ames businesses and residents felt the bite from a winter storm that started Saturday evening and had heaped between 12 and 15 inches of snow on the area by Sunday.

Sunday’s white-out resulted in a shutdown of many Ames businesses, including North Grand Mall and Cy-Ride, cancellations of community events and the closing of various campus services at Iowa State.

In addition, the storm resulted in hazardous traveling conditions, and numerous accidents within central Iowa were reported.

Several Ames plowing services had their work cut out for them toward the end of the weekend.

Thad Brown, crew member for Cooper Keith and Sons, Inc., 819 Lincoln Way, said although the plowing service had many workers and equipment, clearing sidewalks and Ames streets was a long process due to the amount of snow.

“It’s been slow. It takes more than three times as long [to plow] than on normal snow days,” Brown said. “It takes a lot more time; there’s no comparison [to regular days].”

He added that at one point, seven workers plowed a parking area for two hours at a South Hyland apartment complex.

Brown said the business has received numerous phone calls from concerned Ames residents.

“People complain a lot, [but more calls] will come tomorrow,” he said. “When the snowing quits, people automatically think it should disappear.

“It’s good for business, I guess. We’ve got 18 pieces of plow equipment, and we’re not even close to done,” Brown said.

Story County eventually pulled its snowplows off the roads on Sunday.

“[The snow] is drifting back [on the roads] as soon as we get them plowed off,” Harold Jensen, Story County engineer, told the Associated Press.

“We’re saving our plows for [Monday] morning,” Jensen said.

Some drivers disapprove of Story County’s decision to withhold plowing.

Jason Alm, sophomore in architecture, slid into a ditch north of Ames Saturday night. He said a lack of significant plowing contributed to the accident.

“The result of their pulling plows off the road was that snow built up under my front tire. I was coming up to a bridge and couldn’t turn left or right; to avoid hitting a barrier or anything else, I started braking, and that’s what threw me off,” he said.

Alm added that because wrecking services have been delayed, he likely will not retrieve his vehicle for a few days.

“[We knew] the snow was going to get worse, and I would’ve liked to have gotten my car out. Now I’m inconvenienced for a few days,” he said.

Many Ames businesses decided to keep their doors closed for the day, and several ISU services and campus events were canceled.

The Ames-ISU International Women’s Day celebration, as well as Barjche, an annual dance performance by ISU faculty and students, were postponed. Both events will resume today.

Cy-Ride officials also opted to close the bus service after initial delays from 9 a.m. to noon.

“We didn’t even get started,” said Bob Bourne, director of Cy-Ride. “We were out early this morning checking roads and pushed [our starting time] back to noon. We were out all morning and decided not even to get started.”

Bourne said despite efforts to clear streets from both the city and ISU, he decided it wasn’t worth the risk.

“[They] did a good job, but it was too treacherous,” he said. “Rather than get started and end up having to close down, we decided not even to try.”

While the storm evoked some business owners to stay home, others benefited from the conditions.

Stacy Parker, assistant manager of Domino’s Pizza, 118 Hayward, said the store experienced a boom in business Sunday. She said its only obstacle was shooting for prompt delivery with a shortage of workers.

“We’ve been extremely busy, but the roads are awful,” Parker said. “We’ve been doing our best to get deliveries out.”

She said although the weather has provoked some employees to miss work, the business has worked around the situation.

“We’ve made arrangements that everyone has do to work. It’s been a problem,” Parker said. “We apologize for any delays; we’re doing our best.”

Because ISU residence hall dining services do not serve on Sunday evenings, on-campus students were forced to choose among facing the snowy conditions, ordering from deliveries or finding change for the vending machines.

Monic Muldrew, senior in management information systems and resident of Friley Hall, said she hoped her meal plans included staying at home.

“I will probably make use of the new convenience store in Friley, or if all else fails, I will brave the wind and go up on Welch,” she said.

According to the National Weather Service, roads are expected to be improved significantly on Monday. But the Iowa State Patrol strongly discouraged travel in affected areas, including Ames, on Sunday.