Winter Storm Blair dropped several inches of snow and ice earlier this week throughout West Virginia. (West Virginia Department of Transportation photo)
Thousands of West Virginia residents remained out of power Tuesday as the region continued to feel the impacts of Winter Storm Blair, which dropped several inches of snow and ice earlier this week.
As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, about 62,000 Appalachian Power customers — 34,600 in Virginia and 27,300 in West Virginia — were still without electricity, according to the company.
Lincoln, Clay, Mercer, Summers and Wayne counties in West Virginia were among the heaviest hit, according to Appalachian Power.
The company said field personnel assessing damage found 475 spans of downed wire, 80 broken poles, 65 damaged cross arms and 30 transformers across its service area. Icy terrain added to the challenges that the nearly 6,000 personnel face in restoring power, the company said.
The power company estimated full restoration to customers in both states by Thursday evening.
In Kanawha County, Metro 911 briefly operated on a generator Tuesday morning after losing power, according to the Kanawha County Commission.
“They are using a generator, and everything is working as it should,” the agency posted on social media Tuesday morning. “Crews are on their way.”
A spokesperson for the county said the dispatch center’s power was restored shortly before noon. The generator had kicked on immediately after the electricity went out and there were no disruptions, she said.
Weather contributed to fatal accident, building collapse
The weather contributed to a multi-vehicle accident Sunday evening that led to the death of an Ohio woman, according to West Virginia State Police. The accident was reported around 7:30 p.m. in the southbound lanes of Interstate 77 near mile marker 87, a news release said.
Alexis Vega, 25, of Cleveland, lost control of her vehicle and struck the concrete median barrier, coming to rest sideways in both lanes, the release said. After the accident, Vega got out of her vehicle and was struck in the roadway by a passing tractor trailer. The vehicle belonging to a witness who had stopped to help Vega was also struck. The woman died of her injuries at an area hospital.
In Parkersburg, the snow caused the roof of a car dealership to collapse late Monday night, according to West Virginia MetroNews. No one was inside and no injuries were reported.
On Tuesday, public schools remained closed for in-person classes across the state. Fifty school districts closed completely, while five — Cabell, Clay, Lincoln, Mingo and Pocahontas — held classes virtually. A complete list of school closures is available online at the state Department of Education’s website.
Cold temperatures remain, more snow possible late this week
According to the National Weather Service, cold temperatures are expected to remain through this week.
Jeremy Michael, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, said most of Southern and South Central West Virginia saw between a 10th of an inch and a third of an inch of ice and between 3-8 inches of snowfall as of early Tuesday morning. Some areas near Beckley had a half inch of ice.
Central and Northern West Virginia got between 7-12 inches of snow during the storm, he said.
“We’re getting some more snow [Tuesday], but we’re kind of transitioning to being done with that other event, and we’re kind of moving into a whole [different] upslope snow event,” he said. “So we’ll kind of start calculating snow a little bit differently and adding on from here on out with this new one.”
The upslope snow — formed from moisture off the Great Lakes and hitting the mountains — will drop several inches of snow in the state’s higher elevations as well as a dusting to an inch of snow in the lowlands over the next day or so, he said.
The National Weather Service is also tracking the potential of a bigger snow storm that could hit the region late this week into the weekend, Michael said. The storm has the potential to drop several inches of snow across the region late Friday and early Saturday, he said. So far that weather event does not look like it will include ice, Michael said.
“It’s looking like an all-snow event,” he said. “That could change, but right now it looks like we’re solidly in the snow. We’ll have plenty of cold air available and the storm track kind of stays off to the southeast, which is really good for us, it keeps us in the cold air.”
Michael encouraged people to check on their neighbors as power outages persist along with colder temperatures.
“It can get pretty dangerous if you don’t have power, and with these cold temperatures. So that’s a big concern, as well as the continued icy roads. When we get these snow showers, it’s going to continue to make the roads icy and slick every night.”
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