Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 19, 1994 TAG: 9401190100
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Big Chill of '94 is putting an icy pinch on governmental services in Western Virginia.
Already Roanoke says it is out of snow-removal money and will have to ask City Council to replenish its $165,000 budget.
The Virginia Department of Transportation has spent $3.5 million this month clearing roads in 12 counties surrounding Roanoke, Ice keeps Roanoke Regional Airport closed. A2 Getting to work is a critical matter. C1 about $1.5 million more than was spent by the end of January last year.
If near-zero temperatures developed as predicted Tuesday night, trash collection in Roanoke Valley localities would be called off for the third straight day.
The National Weather Service was predicting temperatures of zero to 5 below. Winds were expected to reach 30 mph, causing a wind-chill factor of 30 to 40 below.
The predicted high today is 10. Temperatures tonight are expect to be the coldest in the current cold snap: in the subzero range.
No relief is expected until Saturday, when temperature are supposed rise into the 30s.
City social services workers said weather-related emergency calls picked up Tuesday morning.
One elderly woman complained she had no water to take her medications. Several people receiving fuel assistance said they had used up their allotment.
Corinne Gott, the city's director of social services, said no more allotments will be available this year unless an emergency is declared.
Those without a sufficient amount of fuel were advised to check into public shelters if they had no other place to go.
"The ones we are hearing from are already experiencing an emergency," Gott said. "We can't carry them for an entire winter."
Since temperatures dropped to frigid levels Saturday, 15 broken water mains in the city have needed repair. Three-quarters of Roanoke's 510-mile water system consists of cast-iron pipe, which is susceptible to breaking when the temperature falls below 20 and rises again.
Roanokers had to negotiate ice-slickened sidewalks and parking lots Tuesday. Emergency medical service workers responded to about 10 calls about people who had fallen.
Tuesday night, roads closed because of ice included the 3100 block of Colonial Avenue.
In Roanoke County, the highway department closed Forest Ridge Road, Poage Valley Road, the Poage Valley Extension, Roselawn Road Southwest and Two Ford Road, according to police.
The good news was that motorists seemed to be taking the heed of police and staying off roads if they didn't have snow tires or chains. Roanoke police reported that accidents on Tuesday morning actually were lower than normal.
"Drivers know it is slick," said Sgt. Pat Shumate of the Roanoke Police Department's traffic division. "They know they have to be careful. They can't do their normal breakneck stuff."
The pace of snow-removal crews was a little quicker as they tried to beat the chill.
About 75 members of the city's Streets Department have been working since early Monday to combat ice that spewed into Western Virginia.
The frigid temperatures predicted would further solidify ice on roads, because ice-melting chemicals would have lost their potency.
"When the temperature is below 20, the chemicals do nothing," said William Clark, Roanoke's director of public works. "You can't melt ice when temperatures are below 20 degrees."
If ice remains on the streets, trash collectors are hampered by treacherous footing. Subfreezing temperatures also threaten the employees with frostbite or hypothermia if they are exposed for prolonged periods to single-digit temperatures.
Those concerns and a holiday on Monday halted trash collection in the city the first two days of the week. City officials were waiting until this morning before deciding whether to resume trash collection today.
Trash collectors experienced similar problems in Roanoke County and Salem.
Weather permitting, Salem will double up with its regular Tuesday and Wednesday routes today.
Roanoke County crews, two days behind schedule, will try to get to regular Monday routes today.
At Montgomery County's Mid-County Landfill, a trash truck slid off an elevated road and down an embankment, said County Engineer Randall Bowling.
With the situation as it is, Blacksburg Town Manager Ron Secrist was taking things in stride.
Blacksburg "has used more resources on snow removal this year than in previous ones," he said. "But the way we look at it, you have good years and you have bad ones. The snow is here and there's nothing you can do about it, so we'll do all we can to keep the streets clean."
by CNB