A quick-moving front — packing a mixture of rain, snow and sleet — moved across the Piedmont this morning, leaving Rowan County a slippery mess.
A mix of snow and ice coated county roads early today, sending many motorists into side ditches on their way to work or school.
George Lemons at the National Weather Service in Raleigh said the storm that brought snow and freezing rain to Rowan County is moving east quickly and will be gone by this afternoon. Since the ground and roads are still warm, he said most of what has accumulated will melt.
Brian McAvoy, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Greer, S.C., agreed the wintry weather will taper off by this afternoon. He said to expect light drizzle and some freezing rain, but not much more significant precipitation. “Besides a few slick spots things won’t be bad the rest of the day,” he said. McAvoy predicted the temperature won’t climb out of the 30s today.
The National Weather Service reports the following snow:
- .5 - 1.5 inches in Rowan County
- 2.5 inches in Davie County
- 1 - 2 inches in Iredell County
This morning, the National Weather Service in Raleigh had yet to report the accumulation in Cabarrus, Davidson and Stanly counties. Weather officials estimated less than an inch in each county.
Lt. LaVell Lovette said the Salisbury Police answered six accident calls this morning.
Deputies with the sheriff’s department focused most of their efforts on weather-related calls this morning, according to Lt. John Sifford. He said that he had heard “quite a lot of wrecks throughout the county” over the scanner. Although deputies do not handle wrecks in the county — a responsibility of the N.C. State Highway Patrol — they were responding to accidents to make sure no one was hurt and wait for troopers to respond.
Dispatchers at the Highway Patrol could not estimate this morning how many accidents they responded to, though they did say say they were extremely busy.
911 dispatchers received over 75 accident calls. For two hours, all six of their telephone lines were ringing almost constantly.
While on a call near St. Luke’s Church Road near East Rowan High School and Erwin Middle, Deputy C.C. Hicks’ vehicle was hit while parked on the side of the road. No one was in the vehicle, though it had to be towed because of the severity of the damage
The Rowan Emergency Medical Service was extremely busy this morning.
Shift Supervisor John Sharpe said all of the early accidents appeared to have only minor injuries.
By 9 a.m., ambulances had responded to more than a dozen weather related incidents.
One unit was dispatched to a stuck school bus on N.C. 152, but was stopped en route when no injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, city and county road crews scrambled with salt, sand and slag to defeat the ice, especially on bridges and overpasses. Rowan County residents woke up to periods of snow, sleet and freezing rain, though schools opened on schedule.
Conditions seemed to worsen after school buses were already on their routes and commuters had headed for work.
“It changed very quickly in about 10 minutes,” said Steve Weatherford, head of street maintenance for the city. “We’ve seen a lot of cars off in the ditches and a lot of one-vehicle-type accidents.”
Salisbury street crews dispatched spreader trucks to bridges and overpasses before putting slag on main arteries and emergency routes such as Mocksville Avenue (going to Rowan Regional Medical Center) and Brenner Avenue (leading to the Hefner VA Medical Center).
Crews also spread slag at intersections with a grade to help prevent some of the accident calls to police.
The city’s Public Services Division delayed bus routes this morning and canceled today’s garbage pickup. Garbage that was to have been picked up today will be picked up Friday.
“The roads are a lot better right now,” Weatherford said about 9:45 a.m., adding that he was “hoping and praying” for warmer temperatures.
His thermometer read 33 degrees at that time.
City crews also moved downtown to shovel the walkways in front of city office buildings and at bus stops.
“We always plan for the worst and hope for the best,” Weatherford said, noting that the spreader trucks and third-shift and first-shift crews were ready for action. “I was really surprised it did stick on the road like it has. ... We were planning for a cold, wet day, not a cold, white day.”
The city was not running any plows this morning.
By 9 a.m., Jack’s Wrecker Service on Peeler Road had all of its tow trucks on the road, responding to accidents. Jack’s had one call for service before 8 a.m., then at least four calls after that.
Among the wrecks were calls to Interstate 85 and Crescent Road.
“We’ve been loaded — we have everybody out everywhere,” said a man answering the telephone at Crawford’s Garage on Stokes Ferry Road.
Crawford’s Garage sent wreckers to Palmer Road, St. Luke’s Church Road, St. Peter’s Church Road, Bringle Ferry Road and Mahaley Avenue. Again, most of the calls for help came after 8 a.m.
“Gosh, we’ve been all over,” said a spokesperson for Kluttz Garage and Wrecker Service on Rowan Mills Road. “We’ve had a couple down banks, but it’s mostly been cars in ditches.”
All three of Kluttz Garage’s wreckers were responding to stranded cars. Several calls went to N.C. 150 and Sherrills Ford Road. Calls started coming into Kluttz as early as 6:30 a.m.
“It’s kind of bad,” said the person answering the Kluttz Garage telephone. “I was kind of surprised schools went.”
Leonard Motor and Towing, located on East Ridge Road, had its first call about 6 a.m. Through the morning, its calls included mishaps on Sides Road, Briggs Road and U.S. 52.
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