Bladen County was expected to be on the outer edge of Monday night’s winter storm.
At first light Tuesday morning, it was apparent that the storm’s edge had cut a damaging swath through much of the county. Power outages, toppled trees and freezing temperatures made for miserable conditions.
More than 8,000 customers of Duke Energy and Four County Electric Membership Corp. lost power — some for more than 10 hours. More than 1,600 Four County customers remained without power late Tuesday night. Duke Energy had less than 50 reported outages by late Tuesday night from a high of about 5,000 in the early morning hours Tuesday.
Bladen County Emergency Management Services opened shelters at West Bladen High School and Bladen Lakes Primary School if anyone needed a place to get warm. The school facilities were available because the numerous power outages caused Bladen County Schools and Bladen Community College to cancel classes. Both the public school system and BCC are operating on a two-hour delay Wednesday.
Branches of ice-laden trees bowed toward roadways Tuesday before yielding to gravity and falling over, making people with chainsaws in high demand. Those downed trees also took a toll on power lines throughout the county.
However, those roads blocked by the fallen trees weren’t a problem. N.C. Department of Transportation crews had spread salt brine along major roadways in Bladen County last weekend. That advance work combined with the fact the temperature didn’t fall much below 30 degrees made travel in most areas not nearly as hazardous as simply walking across the lawn with the ice crunching under your shoes.
There were some vehicle accidents Tuesday morning, but reports weren’t available.
While the icicles may disappear from mailboxes and eaves of houses Wednesday, the winter weather is expected to stick around for the rest of the week.
Wednesday’s high temperature is forecast to be 41 degrees by the National Weather Service, and that’s going to feel like a heat wave considering what lies ahead. There’s a slight chance of snow flurries overnight Wednesday as the low temperature drops to 16. Sunshine returns Thursday, but the high temperature is expected to be only 25 while the low Thursday night will be 9 — that’s right, single digits. Friday’s high will be 26 and the low will be 16.
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