Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 17, 1993 TAG: 9303170259
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From staff reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
REGION BRACES FOR SECOND STORM
Western Virginia staggered back to its feet Tuesday after reeling for several days from a knockout blow by the blizzard of '93.But Old Man Winter was ready to take one more jab at the region with snow and rain predicted today.
Predictions called for snow and sleet to change to rain as temperatures climb into the 40s.
"I don't think we are going to look at any major source of problems," said Chip Knappenberger, a climatologist at the University of Virginia. "But it is just a precipitation forecast coming on the heels of a major snow that has everyone a little bit worried."
Those worries follow a record-breaking snowstorm that blew in Friday and is blamed for 11 deaths in Western Virginia. Statewide, officials put the death toll at 12.
The latest victim was identified as Samuel I. Boyce, 28, a volunteer firefighter in Winchester, killed when he was pinned against an office building by a front-end loader moving snow.
The blizzard was lethal to animals, too. In Roanoke County, at least seven Charolais heifers were killed and two more were not expected to live after a snow-laden barn collapsed on Randall Drive in the Mount Pleasant community.
Garfield Underwood, who tends the cattle, said two heifers with broken hips and two with broken backs had to be destroyed.
Meanwhile, hundreds of snowbound visitors began the trek homeward Tuesday afternoon as highway workers pushed ice and snow off Interstates 81 and 77. Sections of the interstates had been opened and then closed Monday night.
"It was backed up in all four directions last night," Wythe County Emergency Services Director Tom DuPuis said Tuesday. "We've had some wrecks that have really messed things up. But it is moving . . . just slowly."
"The traffic has been so backed up the plows didn't have any room to maneuver," said Larry Dodd, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The Wythe County Sheriff's Department was recommending that local motorists use U.S. 11, 52 and 21 rather than the interstates, particularly around the 10-mile stretch of combined Interstate 81-77 between Wytheville and Fort Chiswell.
John Bishop, resident transportation engineer for Wythe and Grayson counties, said highway workers concentrated on secondary roads where people required medical attention or were stranded with covered cars.
He said there were many cases where equipment operators would go as far as their equipment would take them, then walk to reach those people. "We really have a dedicated bunch of people here and I am very proud of them."
On Interstate 77 through Wythe and Carroll counties, the main effort Tuesday was to clear away abandoned vehicles or get people back to their cars.
Meanwhile, emergency officials shut down shelters that had housed thousands of stranded travelers. Tuesday afternoon, people finally left two of the biggest shelters, Bland County High School and the Wytheville Community Center.
DuPuis said about 1,200 people sought shelter in Wythe County Monday night.
Wytheville police unloaded about 3,000 prepared-food packages Tuesday, replacing the 2,000 used the previous day. Trucks used to bring in supplies filled parking lots at Wytheville's Kmart and Evansham shopping centers as well as the south side of Main Street.
Workers had cleared nearly 800 miles of road in Montgomery, Pulaski and Giles counties by Tuesday afternoon. They had 400 miles of secondary road to go.
Tuesday afternoon, Dan Brugh, resident engineer for the Virginia Department of Transportation in Christiansburg, warned his co-workers of the approaching new storm system.
But, he said, "The good news is we don't have to call everybody out to work because they're already out there."
Students trickled in from spring break to snowbound Virginia Tech and Radford University, causing backups on U.S. 460.
"Any time the students come back there are traffic problems," said Capt. Jody Falls of Virginia Tech's Police Department. "But it's nothing we can't handle."
Residence hall staffs at Radford said only about 260 of 3,200 students were back by midday Tuesday.
Classes were to resume at both universities today. But Deborah Brown, director of public relations at Radford, said faculty would understand if some students couldn't make it.
Businesses and individuals continued to report small acts of heroism and good deeds.
Appalachian Power Co. repair crews had a lot of citizen help during the weekend storm, said company spokeswoman Victoria Ratcliff. When Apco trucks were stuck in snowdrifts, residents helped dig them out, she said.
When one repairman was stuck for hours without radio communication, a man brought him a cellular telephone to call his dispatcher. The man also pulled the repairman's vehicle out with a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Apco customers also helped locate damaged lines when visibility was poor, Ratcliff said.
All Roanoke Valley and Franklin County power failures were repaired by Monday night, Ratcliff said. But about 400 to 500 Apco customers in Henry County still had no electricity Tuesday. Service was expected to be restored today, according to Jim Nichols of Apco.
Health workers across the region did double duty as well. Many employees at Roanoke Memorial Hospital spent Saturday night in a nursing dormitory rather than try to go home in the storm, said Sally Ramey of Carilion Health Systems. Hospital four-wheel-drive vehicles picked up many employees.
Two ambulances and a tractor were needed to bring in one heart attack victim, Ramey said. After one ambulance broke down, the tractor and another ambulance came to the rescue.
Roanoke Memorial treated 88 blizzard-related injuries from Friday night through midday Tuesday. People had fractures, chest pains and shortness of breath from shoveling snow. One hypothermia case was reported.
Gov. Douglas Wilder said during a tour of the blizzard damage on Monday that he was going to make a disaster declaration, but was waiting for a thorough accounting of the damage by the state Department of Emergency Services. Wilder estimated costs of the storm at $12 million.
Federal money could reimburse Bland, Giles and Wythe counties, which spent money from their own treasuries to shelter stranded travelers, said Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon.
The aid could also be used to repair damaged public buildings. Such damage included the collapse of a building owned by Damascus, the partial collapse of the Bristol jail, severe water damage to the Buchanan County Courthouse in Grundy and school damage in Dickenson County.
Boucher said he was urging the declaration of a major federal disaster as soon as possible because the predictions of more precipitation added to the potential for flooding. A federal declaration would make it easier to get federal assistance in the event of a flood, he said.
Staff writers Ron Brown, Carolyn Click, George Kegley, Greg Edwards, Madelyn Rosenberg and Paul Dellinger contributed to this story.
Keywords:
FATALITY