PIKE COUNTY, Mo. — With snow and ice season right around the corner, the Missouri Department of Transportation says it’s several hundred employees short to cover more than one single shift in a statewide storm.

MoDOT chief safety and operations officer, Becky Allmeroth, says more than 70 employees have been leaving every month for the past six months, which is a record.

“If we had a widespread winter storm that ends up lasting more than 12 hours which is our standard shift when we’re doing winter operations then we’re not gonna have enough employees to fill those trucks on that second shift,” Allmeroth told Missourinet. “Which puts us on pace to lose over 800 employees this year, so we’re in the same dilemma that a lot of other driver-based services industries are and we’re really competing for the same pool of employees and the same people who drive trucks and have CDLs.”

The department held its annual winter operations drill Thursday to practice reacting to a simulated forecast of significant snow for the entire state. The exercise included activating the emergency operations centers, deploying maintenance employees and testing emergency communications systems.