Community digs out
After early season blizzard paralyzes area
, Staff Writer
12-21-2009
“The best thing to do is stay home until we can get caught up.”
That was Virginia State Police Sgt. Dirk Compton’s advice to citizens after a winter storm dumped more than a foot of snow over much of the region Friday night and early Saturday.
At Virginia Department of Transportation’s Bagging Plant Road headquarters in Dublin, Physical Assistant Keith Turman agreed.
“I would just as soon everybody stayed at home,” Turman said. “It helps us out because we don’t have to deal with traffic” while clearing roads.
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine declared a state of emergency Friday night and Saturday morning the Virginia Department of Emergency Management issued a plea for people to stay off roads.
“As we continue to assist motorists who are stranded, I strongly urge everyone to stay at home and off the roads,” said Michel Cline, state coordinator for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. “There are hundreds of vehicles abandoned or stuck on roads.”
In Pulaski County, Turman said abandoned vehicles are not posing much problem for road crews yet. He explained that most of the vehicles encountered on primary roads “completely slid off the road.” However, once crews can begin focusing more on secondary roads, he said crews will probably start encountering more abandoned vehicles.
Asked how the road clearning effort was going, Turman said “pretty good considering” the amount of snow that fell. He said he had received some calls from people upset because they couldn’t get out to go to work, but he tried to explain to them that road crews have been working non-stop to keep the primary and main secondary roads as clear as possible.
VDOT had 10 contract crews working on the main secondary roads while VDOT personnel concentrated on the primary roads.
Once the snow stopped falling, graders were sent out to push back the snow piled up along shoulders in order to “widen things out,” Turman said.
At one point Saturday morning, the interchange at Interstates 81 and 77 in Wythe County was completely shut down due to “multiple incidents,” according to state emergency management officials.
Virginia Department of Emergency Management also was reporting more than 500 people in shelters in Christiansburg and Norton and the counties of King, Queen, Nelson, Rockbridge, Russell, Tazewell, Wise and Wythe.
American Electric Power was reporting 10 customers in Pulaski County without power as of 7 a.m. Saturday.
However, officials were concerned that could increase because winds were forecast to pick up late Saturday into Sunday.
Compton said State Police throughout the region have been “covered up” with wrecks. He said police and tow truck businesses are “overwhelmed.”
Just before 3 p.m. Friday, there was an eight-car pile-up on Interstate 81 at Exit 92 near Draper. That wreck sent several people to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Carroll County authorities reported a fatality due to a wreck Friday afternoon around 4 p.m.
“At least we haven’t had any fatalities,” Compton said of Pulaski County.
More information about the Commonwealth’s response efforts and important safety information are available at http://www.vaemergency.com.
For the latest on road conditions or accident information, call 511 or visit http://511Virginia.org.
Motorists are urged to know road conditions before they decide to travel.
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