NATCHEZ — When Kala Norman awoke to find Natchez blanketed in snow Tuesday morning, she was nearly certain she wouldn’t have to go to work.

“I’ve never seen it like this since I’ve been a carrier, and I thought they might call work off,” Norman said, laughing.

Norman — like many Miss-Lou residents — is not accustomed to driving on icy roads, and said it was rough running her route Tuesday.

The sleet and snow also presented other challenges for Norman.

“People’s (mail)boxes were actually frozen shut,” she said. “You just had to take whatever you could and pry them open,” she said.

Despite the frigid temperatures, Norman was met with some warmth on her route.

“One lady was so happy to get a big box she had been waiting on that she offered me some coffee,” Norman said.

The weather slowed her pace, but Norman said she was still able to complete her route without any major problems.

The icy road conditions also slowed the response time for American Medical Response ambulances in Natchez.

AMR Operations Supervisor Tim Houghton said Tuesday afternoon the ambulance service was responding to routine medical emergencies, but at a slower pace. What should have been a 35-minute call took AMR an hour-and-a-half, Houghton said.

“These ambulances weigh 9,600 pounds, and you can’t get above 30-35 mph, or they start getting off the road,” he said.

Houghton said he wasn’t as concerned about AMR’s ambulances sliding off the road as he was other drivers on the road.

“People just aren’t slowing down,” he said. “I don’t know if they are out sightseeing, but they’re really not driving safe.”

Curtis Nelson saw his share of drivers slipping and sliding off the road Tuesday.

Nelson, who owns Curtis Wrecker Service in Vidalia, said he made several trips to tow stranded motorists who had slid off the road.

“I figured people would stay home, but they didn’t,” he said. “It’s always busy when it’s nasty.”

Nelson has been in the towing business since 1997 and said he had only dealt with the icy and snowy road conditions a few times.

“But I think this might be a little worse than I’ve seen before,” he said.