February 2, 2pm update
Temperatures were in the teens this morning, but the sun is out now & temps are above freezing. We are counting on Mother Nature’s sunshine to help us make more progress today. Every single Public Works crew we have is out plowing & clearing roads and treating them with salt, sand or a brine solution to facilitate snow melt. This morning, crews touched up primary routes & now they’re transitioning to secondary roads. Public Utilities crews started the morning with a power outage in Greenbrier (about 85 customers were affected). Service was restored in about 45 minutes. The police department has responded to one vehicle crash so far today.
We’re not sure how else to say it, but this was a historic storm for New Bern – it’s going to take some time to get it cleaned up & to get things back to normal. We haven’t seen this much snow in more than 35 years. We have 3 plows & numerous skid steers, backhoes and front loaders which are all being put to use in our cleanup efforts.
As of midday, there was still a lot of ice on the roads. Here are a few eyewitness updates from our staff:
MLK Boulevard: one lane in each direction
Highway 70: one lane in each direction
Neuse Boulevard: still in rough shape
Glenburnie Road: patchy
No update yet on trash & recycling services for tomorrow, but we’ll post it as soon as we get it.
Tonight everything will refreeze, so black ice will be a serious issue in the morning. Check the http://www.DriveNC.gov website to get more info on the conditions of roads. Travel only if you have to.
