5 deaths, dozens of accidents attributed to slick roads
Wintry precipitation caused treacherous conditions on roads across the state Friday, and five deaths were attributed to slick conditions, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
Posted — UpdatedThe first three came Wednesday in single-car accidents where drivers lost control of their vehicles on icy roads.
In Wilkes County, Joey Carl Darnell, 44, of North Wilkesboro, was the passenger in a vehicle involved in a head-on collision with a Nissan pickup truck. He was taken to Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, where he later died.
Only one death was recorded Friday as the bulk of the snow and ice moved across the state. The passenger in a pickup truck headed south on Interstate 95 in Johnston County was killed when that vehicle slid into a jack-knifed tractor-trailer just before 8:30 a.m.The driver of the pickup was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
State Highway Patrol Sgt. Michael Baker said a 4-year-old boy died Friday afternoon after the pickup truck carrying his family on Interstate 77 spun out of control and crashed. Baker says the crash happened just before 2 p.m. in Iredell County near Troutman.
Baker says the Ford pickup carrying two adults and their three children, all under 8 years old, slammed into a tow truck working to haul out a vehicle that had run off the highway earlier. Troopers say the boy was restrained in a child seat and died as a result of the impact.
The weather system that moved in early Friday dropped sleet, snow and freezing rain on roads across the state through the day, leaving major highways mostly slushy and passable, but surface streets in varying degrees of drivability.
In an alert issued Friday afternoon, the DOT said, "Interstates I-77, I-26 and I-85 and I-40 from Durham, NC, to Tennessee, are covered with snow and ice."
The DOT also advised caution on I-40 between Durham and Benson and I-95 from Rocky Mount to the Virginia line.
Gov. Pat McCrory said accidents were limited because most schools and businesses closed ahead of the storm, allowing drivers to stay home.
"I want to thank first the people of North Carolina for following the lead and staying off the roads," he said Friday morning before asking them to continue to operate with caution.
During what would have been the afternoon rush hour, traffic was much lighter than normal on area roads, Johnson said.
By 4 p.m., precipitation had changed from freezing rain and sleet to rain in the Triangle as temperatures rose past the freezing mark.
"We've got snow-covered roads up toward the Virginia state line," Johnson said. Major routes in Raleigh were slush covered, and any rain that falls through the evening could wash some of that away.
State Secretary of Transportation Nick Tennyson said his drivers prepared the interstates with nearly 2 million gallons of brine – the salt and water mix which bonds to asphalt and keeps ice from sticking – and planned to add 12,000 tons of salt and 5,000 tons of sand/salt mixture to improve traction.
Tennyson said crews can't be everywhere at once, but they're trying to make sure the highest-volume areas are being handled first. The state's priority is interstates, then primary routes, then lower-volume, secondary roads.
Britt McCurry, a Wake County maintenance engineerm said the continuing precipitation was inhibiting efforts to clear roads.
"The main issue we're having is when we go through an area and apply the salt, even at the temperature we're at now, it's still able to activate and do what we need it to do. The issue is when we come back and push it off, with the constant precipitation, it doesn't take it long to accumulate again," she said.
Air travel into and out of North Carolina was also at a virtual standstill. Many major airlines canceled flights ahead of the storm.
At Raleigh-Durham International Airport, an estimated 400 flights were canceled or delayed. Two carriers – Delta and Allegiant Air continued to operate, taking turns on the sole open runway.
Even those flights able to get out were not running on schedule.
A couple from Burlington, bound for a cruise ship in Florida, spent the day at RDU waiting for their flight.
With the storm continuing through the weekend across the northeast, airport representatives advised anyone with travel plans to check with their airline before leaving the house.
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