Crews worked non-stop to deal with winter storm in Smyth
The well fields in Saltville looked especially icy this weekend. Saltville Police Chief Bryan Lynch said the community experienced no major incidents this past weekend.
This Smyth County road was a solid sheet of ice on Sunday.
A moment of beauty created by ice.
Amid the layers of ice, County Administrator Shawn Utt saw servants at work.
On Monday afternoon, he acknowledged “the ice that is everywhere” and the about a third of the county that was without power at one point.
However, he noted that Appalachian Power crews seemed to be out in force. The utility company reported calling in extra manpower from as far away as Wisconsin to help deal with the impact of Winter Storm Fern.
To help those who needed a warm place to stay, in conjunction with the Department of Social Services, the county was opening an emergency warming center at the Marion Police Department/WW Scott Senior Center on Park Street.
Marion’s First United Methodist Church was also welcoming people inside Monday to warm up, charge devices, and eat a warm bowl of soup.
It was all “the various folks out working to help those in need” the warmed Utt. He noted the public safety employees around the county answering calls for service, road crews helping clear roads and streets, and utility crews working to restore power.
“THIS is truly what it means to be a public servant,” Utt said.
Among those road crews were the Town of Marion’s team.
On Monday afternoon, Town Manager Andrew Keen said, “Road conditions are as good as can reasonably be expected given the combination of first snow, then heavy ice we experienced. The town has put down more than 100 tons of salt and has multiple road crews working 24-hour shifts.” Those crews were using four snowplows, and sidewalk clearing teams were undertaking that labor intensive work.
However, Keen said that a combination of the ultra-low temperatures and the small number of vehicles on the roads was “taking a toll on the salt’s effectiveness….”
“Salt is most effective above 20 degrees and becomes more effective as vehicles travel over it pushing it down into the ice and creating heat friction from driving across the snow and ice,” he explained.
However, Keen emphasized, “We continue to ask that motorists use their best judgment in leaving their homes and ask that folks refrain from parking on the sides and shoulders of the roads to give adequate room for our plows to do their jobs.”
In Chilhowie, Town Manager Brian Martin said town crews went out at 7 a.m. Saturday and worked continuously on roads until about 6 p.m. Monday. He described that work as treacherous when dealing with ice instead of snow. He estimated that more than half-an-inch of ice accumulated.
Many in the community had been without power, but Martin noted that electricity was expected to be restored to everyone by 11 p.m. He attributed the loss of power to numerous trees brought down by the ice’s weight.
Winter Storm Fern nearly compounded damage done by Hurricane Helene.
In late September 2024, the flooding caused by Helene destroyed Chilhowie’s three aerial sewer crossings over the Holston River. Since shortly after that, a temporary bypass system of flexible piping has been carrying the system’s wastewater.
With temperatures well below 32 degrees, Martin said, “It’s been a challenge keeping our temporary sewer bypass flowing and not freezing up.”
While crews hoped that Tuesday’s predicted sunshine and highs in the upper 20s would help road and utility crews, Keen and Martin joined forecasters in pointing cautiously toward Friday night and Saturday’s even colder conditions. On Monday, the National Weather Service was forecasting that Friday’s low would be around 1 with Saturday’s around 3.
To help the county and its town recoup costs from the storm on Saturday, Utt declared a local emergency in conjunction with the Commonwealth’s declaration.
Everyone was hoping that Woolly in Saltville and the groundhog in Pennsylvania would predict an early spring.
