The powerful winter storm that dropped up to nine inches of snow and whipped winds faster than 20 mph to Casper this weekend took a toll on the city's rental car companies.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car on South Forest Drive, did not have any vehicles available as of Tuesday afternoon. The company has loaned out more than 60 cars since Friday night because of the increase in accidents over the weekend, said Dustin Hayes, area manager.

More than 40 of those rental vehicles were claimed on Monday after car insurance claims were processed, Hayes said. Another 15 to 20 were rented on Saturday.

"It's at least double what we normally do, if not more," Hayes said. "There was one after another coming in saying, 'I've just been in an accident.' … 'I just hit another car.' … 'I hit a pole.'"

And he said they were still coming in.

Enterprise's waiting list stood at about 15 to 20 people on Tuesday afternoon. To try to accommodate the demand, Hayes said the Casper Enterprise Rent-A-Car is pulling cars from Montana, North and South Dakota and even Nebraska.

The Casper Police Department responded to almost 40 accident calls from Friday morning to Sunday night, according to police records.

The snowfall, coupled with strong winds, created blowing snow and made roads slick, said David Lipson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Riverton.

"The snow is slow to melt," Lipson said. "We haven't had temperatures this low this year. Even though the sun was out, it was not warm enough to melt the snow."

He said snow melts a little during the day but freezes over at night creating "semi-permanent black ice."

Price King Rent-A-Car, on East Second Street, was also out of cars Tuesday afternoon. However, manager Linda Cantrell said she can't blame just the weather.

She said the rental business in Casper has picked up over the last year and it gets busier during the holidays when people are traveling.

The increase in population in Casper has made her business increase, Cantrell said.

"Usually by Friday we are empty," Cantrell said. "People call ahead and book them. Unfortunately, with the weather it is hard to find a rental."

She said she had a lot of calls this weekend of people looking for rentals and she had to turn a few away.

The rental car companies out at the Natrona County International Airport were not hit as hard.

Because Enterprise is in town, Hayes said they deal a lot with the insurance companies and body shops - and the increase in business.

Budget, located at the airport, has a lot of cars available, said supervisor April Franklin. However, the company rented most of its sport utility vehicles over the weekend. Franklin said about 10 people rented cars from Budget to replace vehicles damaged in accidents.

Contact health reporter Allison Rupp at (307) 266-0534 or allison.rupp@trib.com.