HARRY LYNCH - hlynch@newsobserver.com
Snow was still being dealt with Monday morning on the UNC campus after last weekend's snowfall dropped some four to six inches in Chapel Hill. While UNC Facilities Services staff used a tractor and scrape bucket to clear sidewalks behind Wilson Library Monday morning, UNC junior Rebecca Lee, right, used a cassette tape box to help her chip out excess snow and ice from her car windshield between classes. All UNC classes before 10 a.m. Monday were canceled with the rest of the day resuming a normal class schedule.
With Triangle schools closed today because of the weekend winter storm's icy aftermath, hospital emergency room doctors are worried about a rising number of injuries from a favorite but risky activity - sledding. Some schools will remain closed Tuesday, including Wake, Durham, Chapel Hill-Carrboro.
Local hospitals on Sunday reported serious sledding injuries, some life threatening from head or internal wounds. WakeMed, for one, reported seven traumatic injuries requiring admission to the hospital. WakeMed and Rex Hospital have treated dozens of sledding injuries in their emergency rooms that did not require admission. Doctors say several of the injuries were caused when sledders were being towed by vehicles. They worry that there will be more injuries today.
"In all likelihood we have in this region some deaths and injuries with long-term consequences," said Dr. Osi Udekwu, WakeMed's director of trauma surgery.
With temperatures hovering below freezing, there was no Sunday thaw. So school officials across the Triangle canceled classes today and urged people to stay home. With overnight temperatures in the low teens, road conditions this morning should be dicey.
"They will be very dangerous in the morning as we wake up and go to work," Gov. Bev Perdue said Sunday. "Very, very dangerous, dark ice, that black ice we all know can cause tremendous damage."
Perdue said the state was lucky that the storm hit on the weekend, making it easier for people to stay home. The governor also urged people to check on neighbors, especially the elderly.
This morning, flights are getting back on schedule at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Only a few cancellations and delays were reported.
Crews worked through the weekend to make roads passable, but conditions will still be dangerous until at least mid-day today, said Greer Beaty, spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Transportation. Spots where water pools will be particularly dangerous.
"We're working as hard as we can, scraping and clearing and putting down tons of salt," she said. "The best advice we can give anybody is to stay home."
Udekwu, the WakeMed surgeon, gave this advice to sledders: Never be towed behind a car or other vehicle; Don't sled head first; Don't drink and sled; and avoid sledding near hard objects like trees, phone poles and fire hydrants.
Nothing doin'
Across the Triangle, local governments canceled meetings and some city services.
A Wake County commissioners meeting was canceled, and superior and district courts in Wake will also be closed. In Durham, trash collection has been nixed as well.
But state offices will be open, Perdue said. At Duke University, classes will be held as scheduled. Other academic institutions opted for a delayed start or a partial shutdown, including N.C. State, which canceled classes until noon. At UNC-Chapel Hill, classes are canceled until 10 a.m., but offices will open at regular hours.
Johnston and Durham counties also delayed opening their government offices until noon.
On Sunday, many appeared to heed the warnings to stay home. Highways and other roadways around the Triangle weren't heavily traveled, and police reported mostly minor traffic accidents.
In Johnston County, a state trooper sitting in his patrol car while overseeing a fender-bender was struck by a motorist who lost control and swerved into him. The trooper, R.B. Maynard, was not injured in the wreck, which occurred just before noon on Interstate 95 near N.C. 50, said First Sgt. I.O. Grady.
Progress Energy worked to restore power to a smattering of customers around southern Wake County.
Today should be warmer with temperatures expected to climb to the low 40s. Rain is possible tonight, said Brandon Vincent, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh.
The crunch of ice and snow underfoot made for slow going and some cold-weather frivolity. Jim Taggart of Cary gets the ingenuity award of the weekend for being flexible when he couldn't find sleds to buy for his 12-year-old daughter, Monica, and her friend, Jill.
Taggart went to Walmart and got the next best thing: two toilet seats, which Monica and Jill used to zip down their driveway all weekend.
"We were looking for the slickest thing we could find, and let me tell you, those things are slick!" advised Taggart, adding that for most effective use as a sled, one should sit on the toilet lid and use the seat itself as a steering wheel. "They were just 10 bucks. I think that's less than sleds cost."
