Freezing temps, precipitation create ‘messy' conditions

Freezing temperatures and precipitation left Kinston blanketed under a heavy sheet of ice Saturday, as North Carolina Department of Transportation crews worked to clear primary roadways.

Len White, NCDOT county maintenance engineer for Lenoir County, said crews began pretreating with salt water Friday before the wintry blast swept through the area. He said plows hit the streets at around 8 a.m. Saturday and will likely continue to scrap roadways until Monday.

“We are working on bare pavement routes, which are N.C. and U.S. routes — the main corridors,” he said.

Lenoir County emergency manager Roger Dail said the weather has created “messy” conditions for the county’s roadway, including a layer of ice between one-quarter to a half inch thick.

“NCDOT is working very hard to clear primary roads, but secondary roads are still in bad shape,” he said. “Nonetheless, people need to stay off the roads unless it’s some type of emergency situation.”

Lenoir County Emergency Services had not responded to any serious vehicles accidents Saturday morning.

“We’ve seen a few vehicles that slid off the roadway due to the slush and ice,” Paige Johnson, LCES public information officer, said. “We did have one overturned vehicle with no injuries on a secondary road.”

Johnson said residents should be wary about venturing into the icy conditions.

“Just stay in,” she said. “There is no need to get out.”

Accuweather meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said precipitation will taper off to the east, but freezing temperatures will continue into the night.

“Area roadways will be refreezing,” he said. “Tomorrow morning roadways will definitely be icy.”

Pydynowski said temperatures will hover around 30 degrees throughout the next several days.

“Heading into (today) and Monday, it will be clear and sunny,” he said. “Temperatures will crack freezing (today).

“It’s still going to be chilly, but the weather will be moderate compared to (Saturday).”

Progress Energy is equipped for any power outages as a result of ice accumulation throughout the area.

“We actually pulled in crews (Friday) to be on standby to assist as needed,” PE spokeswoman Jessica Lambert said. “We pulled folks from Florida, Georgia and Maryland.”

About 140 PE customers were affected by outages along the British Road in Kinston and Burkett Road in Dover. The estimated time of restoration was noon Saturday.

“We have a workforce of about 1,500 is available to help people as we move through this storm,” Lambert said. “We are continuing to monitor the situation so that we con deploy assistance as needed as these outages occur.”

Kinston Public Services’ Twitter feed reported power outages in the areas of West Road, Nelson Street, Perry Park, Harvey Circle, Cunningham Road, North Queen Street, Stockton Road and Darby Avenue as of 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

“Most of the outages are due to tree limbs and ice on lines,” Chris Hill, operations manager for KPS, said. “We have crews out at all of the locations listed on (Twitter).”

Hill said KPS was expecting to have power restored by the end of the day Saturday.

Sarah Campbell can be reached at 252-559-1076 or scampbell@freedomenc.com.

Cancellations and postponements

-Lenoir Community College’s Lego Tournament scheduled for today has been canceled, the quiz bowl scheduled for Saturday at the Kinston Lenoir Public Library has also been postponed until 2 p.m. Feb. 6.
-North Pitt at Kinston basketball game scheduled for Saturday night has been postponed until Monday night.
-Southwood Memorial Christian Church’s Gaither style gospel sing scheduled for Sunday night has been postponed. A new date and time for the event will be announced as soon as a new time and date are set.
-The Soup and Bowl event schedule for today at the Kinston Arts Council has not been canceled. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
-The eighth annual United Way Day of Basketball scheduled for Sunday has also been postponed until Feb. 21.
-The Grainger Hill OnStage series scheduled for Saturday has been postponed until 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb.6 at Grainger Hill Performing Arts Center.