RALEIGH — The Triangle's first winter storm of 1997 couldn't hold a candle to that of 1996. As many worried there might be trouble with traffic and power outages, others were concerned that trees, still sitting in the wet ground that caused so many of them to topple during Hurricane Fran, would become laden with ice and topple onto houses and power lines.

There were some problems as far west as Asheville, where CP & L officials say as many as 1,000 homes are without power, but there were only a few, isolated outages in the Triangle.

CP & L says they don't have the manpower to handle calls about individualpower lines, but want anyone with knowledge of communityoutages to call1-800-419-6356.