Published: November 18, 2008 09:58 pm      

Winter still more than a month away

Southern West Virginia residents endured a treacherous, miserable commute Tuesday morning after a pre-Thanksgiving snowstorm buried the region, and the roadways became a nightmarish skating rink — even claiming snow plows.

“It was real bad this morning. Real bad,” said Dale Hughart, Raleigh County supervisor for the state Division of Highways.

Hughart said highway crews treated the roads overnight Monday and early Tuesday morning — but with no daylight and temperatures in the lower 20s, materials used to treat roadways provided little or no help. With temperatures that cold, he explained, ice and snow bonded to the roads. Salt would not work.

The rocky material highway crews put down did give vehicles more traction, but conditions were still not ideal.

At sunrise, conditions greatly improved, but Hughart noted most roadways and bridges were wet. His concern, as the evening approached, was re-freezing overnight.

The hardest-hit area of Raleigh County appears to be Bolt Mountain, according to Hughart. Eight-to-nine inches of snow fell at the county’s highest elevation point. Flat Top and Sandstone Mountain were both covered with six inches of snow.

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During the early morning, motorists battled Mother Nature just to keep their vehicles on the roadways. Even two Beckley city Board of Public Works trucks — one plowing snow — fell victim.

At 10:31a.m., Public Works employee Lionel Leftwich, 33, was driving a city-owned Ford F-350 pickup truck on Cedar Street and stopped at a stop sign, said Lt. Cheri Mullens, shift supervisor for the Beckley Police Department. The truck slid backwards on the ice, and Leftwich was unable to stop it.

The truck then plunged over an embankment, crashing on its top on Rails to Trails, Mullens said.

Mullens said Leftwich and another Public Works employee seated by the passenger-side door, Wealthy Eanes, 28, managed to escape before the truck fell. However, employee Jerel Saunders, 18, was seated in the middle, and he could not escape in time. Saunders was taken to an unidentified hospital, and the extent of his injuries was unknown.

No citations are anticipated, given the weather conditions, Mullens said.

While a city snow plow driver was scraping a downhill stretch of Hargrove Street Tuesday morning, a Ford Explorer’s driver was coming out of a steep driveway, Cpl. A.W. Jones said. The Explorer slid out of the driveway and struck the snow plow. Only minor damage was done.

“Not even snow plows...” Jones remarked.

Both Jones and Patrolman M.R. Gonzalez called New River Drive a “solid sheet of ice” — where a skidding car nearly shoved a tow truck into Gonzalez’s patrol car.

Gonzalez said he was at the scene of another accident, where a pickup truck had gone over an embankment. As the tow truck was pulling out the pickup, a passenger car’s driver lost control on the icy road and also went over an embankment — nearly striking the tow truck situated beside the patrol car. Gonzalez was inside the cruiser.

Capt. Tomi Peck said New River Drive was particularly dangerous, and it was closed down Tuesday morning to allow crews to treat it. Numerous cars ran off the road. New River Drive has high mountains and heavily wooded areas on both sides, making snow and ice linger longer.

Peck said numerous accidents were reported city-wide, some causing residential property damage. Peck, herself, handled an accident in which a car wound up on someone’s front porch.

Jessica Porter, 23, of Red Star, was on her way to work around 8 a.m., and she drove her 2006 Ford Focus hatchback down the steep Willow Lane. She lost control and crashed onto the front porch of 105 Willow Lane — landing right in front of the house’s front door.

The porch was heavily damaged, but the car did not actually strike the house, Peck said. Neither Porter nor the house’s occupants were hurt. Peck said Porter will not be cited because of the road conditions. The street did not appear to be fully treated. It may have been scraped, but it was not salted.

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According to West Virginia Turnpike Operations, four accidents involving tractor trailers were reported between 3 and 7 a.m. Tuesday. Semis jackknifed in three different locations, and two wrecked near the Mossy exit. One of those two trucks had a double trailer, and the rear trailer overturned.

During the early afternoon, accidents at both the Chelyan and Pax toll booths were reported within a half hour of each other, Turnpike Operations said.

However, Sgt. D.R. Kincaid, of the West Virginia State Police’s Turnpike division, said the number of accidents and road conditions were not as bad as officers originally expected. Until the snow and ice melts, Kincaid advised motorists to put more distance between themselves and the cars in front of them. At the same time, he advised them to stay away from the roads — period — if it is not absolutely necessary.

“If you don’t have to be out there, for God’s sake, stay at home by the fire,” he said. “Throw another log on the fire, stay home and watch The Weather Channel.”

He also noted that motorists stopping alongside the roadway should be choosy about where they stop. If there is not enough room between stopped vehicles and oncoming traffic, the stopped vehicles are more likely to be struck by sliding cars. Hills are not ideal stops, either. Some places are too slick for stop-offs — which could have motorists chasing their own vehicles.

“I was talking to a trooper today who went to a crash scene, got out of his cruiser and the cruiser slid across the roadway on a bridge,” he said. “...If you have to exit your vehicle be very, very — very, very careful.”

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Nick Webb, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, said a slight break is coming Wednesday — but more winter weather could strike again Thursday and Friday.

Sunny weather, with temperatures in the 40s is forecasted for Wednesday, Webb said. Then Thursday and Friday, there is a chance of both rain and snow, thanks to another en route cold front. This storm system, should not be as significant as Tuesday’s.

Southern West Virginians saw snow on the ground before Halloween, and now, they’re digging through it before Thanksgiving. Webb said such a scenario is not common — but not impossible, either.

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com





SNOW TOTALS



The following snow totals were reported by both the National Weather Service and the state Division of Highways Tuesday:

-- Quinwood....14”

-- Mount Lookout....11”

-- Bolt Mountain.....8-9”

-- Richwood....8”

-- Mount Nebo....7”

-- Flat Top....6”

-- Gauley Bridge....6”

-- Oak Hill....6”

-- Sandstone Mtn.....6”

-- Summersville Lake....6”

-- Mount Hope....5”

-- Beckley....4”

-- Kincaid....4”

-- Oceana....3”

-- Smithers....3”

-- Dry Creek....2”

-- Pineville....1”