A paralyzing storm hit NIU early Thursday morning dumping eight inches of snow in a few short hours.

The Huskie Line bus service shut down as a result of slick roads and heavy snowfall, said Gary Gresholdt, NIU assistant vice president for Student Affairs. Early this morning, DeKalb County police reported zero visibility on the outskirts of DeKalb.

The NIU Physical Plant recalled snow plows in the early morning because of the severity of the storm, plant officials said.

The NIU basketball team was forced to cancel their home game Thursday with the University of Illinois at Chicago because of the snow. The Student Association also postponed its second day of senate elections.

The schools of nursing and engineering were closed because the bus line stopped service, said Anne Kaplan, executive assistant to NIU President John La Tourette.

La Tourette and Provost Kendall Baker were stranded at the Board of Regents meeting at Illinois State University at Normal and unavailable for comment.

La Tourette was contacted by Kaplan, who informed him of the severe weather situation in DeKalb. She said the NIU remained open in spite of the storm because of safety reasons.

After speaking to the NIU Department of Public Safety at 5:30 a.m., “they said the buses could run. If any closure of the university is initiated, it has to occur before 6 a.m. because after that time, people have already begun coming into work,” Kaplan said.

“The weather service people told us that the storm was going to subside by noon. As the day wore on, it became apparent that wasn’t going to be the case. At this point, we decided to cancel all evening classes,” she said.

“We also conferred with the the sheriff’s office at this point, and they told us it wouldn’t be prudent to send our employees home early due to the inclement road conditions.”

However, NIU employees were allowed to leave work an hour early with pay, if necessary, Kaplan said. Also, second-shift employees were called and told not to come into work, she said.

Many NIU employees were forced to take refuge in the Holmes Student Center because all roads out of town were closed. As of 2 p.m., Illinois Routes 64, 23, 88 and 23 were closed, according to DeKalb officials.

Like NIU, DeKalb schools remained open, but only city school buses ran after school, leaving rural children without bus service.

Today’s forecast calls for partly sunny skies and an end to the snow, according to the NIU Weather Line.