More wintery weather, large drifts stall traffic By COBY LaRUE Staff Wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour and an additional four to five inches of snow that fell last Wednesday night and Thursday morning stalled passenger vehicles, business and even the U.S. Postal Service in Alleghany County all day last Thursday. The county had already seen between seven and 11 inches of snow on Monday night, Jan. 17, most of which remained on the ground due to the low temperatures. Snow drifts of six to eight feet caused N.C. 18 North to be closed by mid morning to through traffic and also caused other roadways to be impassible. Traffic along the N.C. 18 corridor was rerouted via a detour on Pleasant Home Road. The area causing the most problems was between Sparta and the Little River Bridge, resulting in traffic backing up for several miles as North Carolina Department of Transportation workers used two snow blowers and grading equipment to try and break through the drifts.

Slipping and sliding - Amber Rose of Sparta took the snowy opportunity last week to ride her sled down a hill near her home. She also made a snowman, who she named Randy.

Picturesque - Little River was mostly frozen over after last week's snow storms, forming a picturesque scene despite the inhospitable conditions.

The road was reopened by Friday morning, but remained dangerous but passable throughout most of the weekend. The hilltop at Paul Evans' store, now Hilltop Equipment, is a well-known area that often has promoted large drifts in the past. The DOT has placed a fence along the hill to try and help prevent the drifting from the barren field above the store on N.C. 18; however, the fence proved ineffective in the face of total snow accumulations of at least a foot deep. NCDOT County Maintenance Engineer Brandon Whitaker said that the conditions were the worst workers had seen since the winter snowstorm of 1993 - a storm that most of the DOT workers consider the worst in recent memory for its deep snow drifts and whipping winds. As for the situation on N.C. 18, Whitaker said that the DOT did not attempt to clear the road until the wind died down. "We are just working emergency calls right now," Whitaker said in an interview last week. "We were just wasting our time - as soon as we get it clear, it's blowing right back in.

"The visibility is just terrible, in some places you can't see more than a few feet," Whitaker said, referring to the blowing snow that was whipping across open areas and drifting in the roads. He noted that the first calls that he received on N.C. 18 were about vehicles stuck in a drift. The workers freed the vehicle and sent it on its way home. Freeing trapped motorists is the top priority for the DOT right now in the county, at least until conditions improve.

"We're just working emergency calls," Whitaker said. "Mainly what we're doing now is making sure that they can get on home." In addition, some drivers were bypassing the detour, which consisted of one open lane down Pleasant Home Road, and trying to make it through the drift. About eight vehicles had to be pulled free of the deep snow by DOT workers, in spite of the road being closed.

Sparta Postmaster Mary Jane Younger said that only about 40 percent of the mail in her district had been delivered as of last Thursday evening because so many of the homes were inaccessible to carriers. Postal routes were back on schedule by Friday evening.

"We had just one of five carriers that were able to complete their route," Younger said. The postmaster noted that about 70 boxes of mail were delivered late due to the weather. "A highway patrolman turned one carrier back from (N.C.) 18," she said, referring to the storm last Thursday. "We had one carrier to get stuck in between drifts." The postal deliveries were mostly back on schedule by Friday afternoon, with few problems reported earlier this week.

Younger said that some residents continue to raise flags and put mail in boxes without cleaning the snow from around the mailboxes. She said that cleaning up the piled-up snow would help the carriers tremendously.

High winds also caused problems in other areas of the county, with some roads remaining treacherous even as late as presstime Tuesday.

The temperatures in the area remained around the freezing mark in spite of periods of sunshine. A warming trend was expected today, but temperatures were dipping into the single digits early this week.

Schools remained closed on Monday and Tuesday, marking the seventh consecutive day students had been out of school. The only day the students could have attended classes was last Monday, which happened to be the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday - recognized by the school system but not the county. The students had just recently returned to classes from Christmas vacation.

Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News!

Email: allnews@ls.net