As of 7 a.m. today, about 2,300 Progress Energy customers were without power. Progress Energy, which brought in crews from several states, responded as quickly as possible to restore power outages ov-ernight, according to county emergency services of-ficials.
Ice began building up on tree limbs and power lines around the middle of the afternoon Sunday. Some limbs, weighted down by the ice, loomed ominously close to power lines. Many trees and limbs were already weakened from a freak early-December ice storm that left thousands of people without power, some for more than a week.
A tree fell on a line near a substation, knocking out power to a large section of Southern Pines a-round 6 p.m. Pow-er was restored in about an hour.
Roads became slushy and hazardous during the late afternoon, especially in the northern part of the county. Roads throughout the county became even more trea-cherous overnight, as more sleet and freezing rain fell.
There were a number of minor traffic accidents around the county during the afternoon.
The Moore County public schools, Sandhills Community College and The O’Neal School announced that they would close today. Tonight’s Classical Concert Series performance by pianist Nicolas Kendall was canceled.
In addition to weather-related problems, county emergency services workers stayed busy with a house fire in Pinebluff.
A powerful winter storm hammered much of the East Coast, with Virginia and Washington D.C., bearing the brunt of it. Moore County got a good dose of rain, freezing rain and sleet. An area of freezing rain and sleet practically bisected the county during the afternoon.
Progress Energy brought in an additional 2,000 workers to deal with any power outages throughout its service area. The company began preparations several days ago, according to Andy Honeycutt, community relations manager for Progress Energy.
Mike Cameron, a supervisor for Moore County Emergency Ser-vices, told The Pilot that if there were widespread power outages, shelters could be opened. But the county did not have to open a shelter.
Little thawing was expected today, with temperatures forecast in the lower 30s.
This is the third storm to assail the county this winter, along with another forecast storm that never materialized. Emergency services workers, power companies and road crews have to prepare for the worst.
Both Honeycutt and Cameron said that although they have dealt with storms of this nature already this season, every storm brings different challenges.
Honeycutt added that dealing with a severe winter storm never becomes routine.
“Every storm is different,” he said. “We try to utilize the lessons learned. But there’s always something new. We try to build upon it (the storm strategy) each time.”
