December storm keeps town quiet

We had been warned, but it was still somewhat of a shock to wake up Sunday morning with snow on the ground and more coming down. In December! The snowfall totals for Sunday were between 7 and 8 inches, depending on the locations in Wake Forest, Rolesville and Youngsville.

Then, this being the Triangle, the snow turned briefly to sleet and then to rain – and it all began freezing as soon as the sun went down.

Monday was a reprise with less snow and less rain but still it all froze overnight.

Officials from Governor Roy Cooper down warned and pleaded for everyone except essential personnel and those with emergencies to stay off the roads, and it appears most people were sensible and stayed home, watching the snow or playing in it or watching the driving TV reporters who kept showing us what conditions were like from Roxboro to Rolesville.

Bill Crabtree, the director of communications for the Town of Wake Forest, reported Wednesday there were 13 traffic accidents with property damage, one traffic accident with injuries, and police officers assisted 22 motorists “probably vehicles that ran off the roadway with no damage.”

Public Works Director Magda Holloway said over the two days and nights Wake Forest Power had two outages affecting 55 people – one where about 22 people were affected and the second with about 23 people affected.

“We did not brine due to the initial expectation of rain which would wash it all away,” Holloway said in an email. “We did plow and used approximately 12 tons of salt/sand mix for the approximate 7” of snow the town received.”

Wake County schools were closed Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday they opened with a three-hour delay.

Wake Electric was reporting at 5 p.m. Sunday that there were fewer than 100 customers without power though scattered outages were continuing. At 8 a.m. on Monday the cooperative reported all outages had been restored. Wake Electric provides power to all or part of Wake, Franklin, Granville, Vance, Durham, Nash and Johnston counties. Much of Wake Forest, including the Heritage and Traditions subdivisions, is served by Wake Electric and Progress Energy has a few customers on the west side of town.