WNC Snow update...Most of the following was reported in the Watauga
Democrate Newspaper Today.....Snow fall at Todd NC (My Location..25
Inches)....Boone NC 19 Inches...Beech Mt..42 Inches...Jefferson NC 23
Inches....
Power Outage Information..... Avery County 10,000 no power
Watauga County 6,300 no power
Ashe County 4,700 no power
Allegany County 400 no power
All on Blue Ridge Electric....no reports for pther power companies..
My power was off from 6 PM Tuesday until 5 PM Thursday
Appalachian State University closed for only 5th time since 1943..
Storm is being compared to Blizzard of 1993 (same # of power outages and
same amount of snowfall)......Problems were amplified by the fact that
forecasters insisted that snow would turn to rain (it Never happened) so
road crews and power companies were not ready to cope with snowfall
rates of 1 - 4 inches per hour...
Power crews from counties to the south and east as well as Nationl Guard
troops removed trees from roads and power lines....
State of Emergency was declared in WNC...with a curfew in Watauga county
all day Wednesday until 8 AM Thursday...with only emergeny vehicles
allowed on roads so that snow could be removed....
It has been an exciting weather event....Thank God for Generators and
four wheel drive.....Although reports from Beech Mt. states, quote "We
have no accidents here....No one can drive to anywhere from anywhere up
here"...
More later....Jess Parks