The public schools, most private schools and Sandhills Community College remain closed again today. Funerals are being rescheduled, and sheriff’s deputies are transporting dialysis patients.
It is all a part of coping with a winter storm that blanketed the county with snow and sleet, starting Sunday morning, and then coated everything with ice Monday. Road conditions became extremely hazardous Monday afternoon when freezing rain and drizzle began to fall.
If there was some good news, it was that no power outages have been reported so far. Loss of electricity is normally a staple of most ice storms.
While the ice began thawing some Tuesday afternoon, frigid temperatures caused everything to refreeze Tuesday night, making roads, parking lots and sidewalks extremely slippery and dangerous. Temperatures are expected to warm into the 40s today.
Roads are expected to be as treacherous this morning as they were Tuesday.
Highway Patrol troopers responded to 10 wrecks in Moore County from Monday to mid-morning Tuesday. No one was badly injured.
“The word’s getting out that the roads are bad,” said 1st Sgt. T.D. Simmons with the State Highway Patrol. “Even the governor’s been saying stay off the roads if you don’t have to travel.”
The Highway Patrol office received a steady stream of calls from stranded motorists from Monday until about 3 a.m. Tuesday. Simmons said even troopers are moving cautiously slow.
“Last night it took me about two hours to get to a call from High Falls to Hoke County,” Simmons said Tuesday. He drove at a safe speed between 5 and 10 mph.
“I have to be safe. I can’t help anybody if I’m in a ditch,” he said, adding that a few troopers ended up in ditches themselves.
Injuries caused by people slipping on the ice, not car crashes, were the big problem Tuesday. The county’s 911 center received 11 calls about broken arms, legs and hips from people who fell Tuesday.
“People are starting to get out but it’s too slick. You can’t stand up,” said Steadman Meares, the county director of emergency services.
FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst also reported emergency staff treated several people with fractures Tuesday.
Emergency Calls
EMS vehicles escorted by four-wheel drive vehicles respond to calls, because the ambulances slid off the road and got stuck in ditches. The response time is at least three times longer than usual, Meares said.
Progress Energy and several electric cooperatives that serve parts of the county reported Tuesday that there have been no reports of power outages. Progress Energy reported that the majority of its customers who lost power were in South Carolina and eastern North Carolina in counties including Brunswick and New Hanover.
Sheriff’s deputies spent Monday and Tuesday responding to stranded motorists and transporting dialysis patients, a dispatcher said. They’ve had volunteers with four-wheel drive vehicles and tractors assist them with some of the calls.
The traffic in Aberdeen has been light for the past two days, Police Chief Charles Campbell said. Police had a few calls to assist stranded motorists and to take a patient scheduled for surgery.
The first order of business for road crews with the N.C. Department of Transportation in Carthage is clearing primary roads.
“We hope to put a dent in the primary roads,” said Sarah Foster, county maintenance engineer for the transportation department. “With [Monday] night’s freezing rain, everything is a sheet of glass now.”
DOT workers started spreading salt on the roads at 4 a.m. Tuesday.
“But the salt doesn’t work once it gets cold enough,” Foster said. “We need some help from Mother Nature.”
The county’s 20 plows, graders and spreaders are divided into sections of the county.
Funerals Delayed
Wylene Kennedy, owner of Kennedy Funeral home, said she and several other funeral homes in the area have rescheduled funerals this week.
“We’ll go into any kind of weather, but it’s up to the family,” Kennedy said. “They will reschedule when it gets too bad to travel to the funeral home and cemetery.”
Kennedy Funeral Home staff braved the icy roads Monday night to go to Asheboro to pick up a body.
“That’s part of our service,” Kennedy said. “You have to always be ready to go because, you never know when it’s going to happen.”
