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American Morning

In Raleigh, North Carolina, Workers Are Clearing the Roads

Aired January 03, 2002 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, let's check in on that winter wonderland that is Raleigh, North Carolina today. Workers are out there clearing the roads, and it looks like some parts of the Tar Hill state could receive even more snow -- maybe up to a foot of it today.

Yvonne Simons from our affiliate WRAL is checking in for us right now. She is on snow patrol this morning. Hey, good morning -- how are things looking out there?

YVONNE SIMONS, CNN AFFILIATE WRAL REPORTER: Well, Leon, the things are looking white and feeling very cold. I am here in the heart of Durham right now, very near downtown Durham. And this is Fayetteville Street. It's a main east-west artery that goes through the city, and this is what most of the roads will look like in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area right now. They've been scraped once or twice. They have been salted or sanded, but they're still not clear. So traffic, which occasionally rolls through here, is really having to go very slow to navigate the roadways here in Durham.

We've gotten about six or eight inches of snow up to about here, and it caused a little treacherous driving. We have seen some cars go off the road. In fact, we have some video for you right now that we shot overnight. And what we found as we were coming up over the overpasses, they are very icy. And as you go down on the Durham Freeway, where we got some more video, traffic actually on the roads there, and you can find that everybody was trying to take their time. People having most difficulties as they go uphill or down steep hills, going off the roadways a bit.

The biggest difficulty for us this morning is that it is still snowing. A little bit lighter than overnight, but still snowing nonetheless. And so, those road crews that are out there scraping the roads are just trying to keep up.

The neighborhoods -- some of the main arteries have been plowed, but the neighborhood streets are low on the waiting list, because they're trying to get the main highways free, so people can do their commute. But what road folks are telling everyone is to stay off the roads if you don't have to be here.

All of the schools in the triangle area and to the east are closed today, and there is, Leon, another wave of snow expected this afternoon, so we've got this. We'll catch up, and then it's round two. And we'll wait and see what happens there. HARRIS: All right. Well, dig in and stay warm. You look like you're dressed for it.

SIMONS: Well, I do feel a little bit like Nanook (ph), but guess what? I am warm.

HARRIS: Good for you -- stay that way, all right, and be careful.

SIMONS: All right.

HARRIS: And be careful out there.

SIMONS: We will try.

HARRIS: Yvonne Simons from WRAL -- thank you very much for that live report. We sure do appreciate it.

Let's get some now on what's happening up there. Joining us on the telephone now from North Carolina is Sherry Creech Johnson. She is with the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Sherry, as I understand it, this is -- this has got to be reminiscent for you of that storm of 2000. I remember covering that one and talking to the governor on that one. That was a big one. How do things look for you?

SHERRI CREECH JOHNSON, N.C DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Absolutely. But the difference is, is that was two feet, and we're having, in some places as she said, six to eight inches. So it's still quite a challenge, and what she described is, is typical of what you will see throughout most of North Carolina.

The Department of Transportation has about 6,000 employees, who are working across the state to remove snow and ice from the state's highways. And we have about 3,000 pieces of equipment that are in use as we speak. So our crews are working 24/7, and as she said, we are doing the interstates first and then the main arteries.

HARRIS: But, Sherri, do you have enough -- do you have enough people? As I understand it, from what I have been reading, you guys had some layoffs there recently.

JOHNSON: Well, we're...

HARRIS: And that may be affecting things, huh?

JOHNSON: Well, we are going to put all crews and equipment that is necessary to handle this. So what we have also done is what we call pre-event staging. So as of Monday, what we have done is line up crews in some areas that are not having as much snow to come to other areas. So we have more crews available. So we are going to put all resources to this.

HARRIS: Now, as I remember that covering the 2000 storm, the problem with that one was there was ice under the snow.

JOHNSON: Absolutely. HARRIS: How about this time around?

JOHNSON: This is a little bit better, because you have a dryer snow. But we ran into a problem last night with traffic being on the road and our snowplows had difficulty getting on the highways. So we are urging people to please stay off the highways. Let us get the roads scraped and plowed, and then it's going to be much better. So we were having a situation last night of too many people on the road.

HARRIS: Yes.

JOHNSON: And there were a lot of accidents, and we were having trouble plowing, because of the cars. So we are urging people to please stay off the highway and only travel if they must, and if they have to, to use extreme caution.

HARRIS: Yes, that's got to be a big wrinkle in the plowing process, when people get out there and accidents happen, and they block up the highways. Are people following your advice about staying off the road today?

JOHNSON: It's better this morning than it was last night.

HARRIS: OK.

JOHNSON: So they seem to be heeding that advice.

HARRIS: All right. From what you're hearing from your drivers out there, what's the worst hit area?

JOHNSON: Pretty much the Piedmont area is the hardest hit now in the central part of the state. But as I said, the majority of the state has received snow.

HARRIS: OK. Do you have any stories of any people being stranded out there in their homes or anything?

JOHNSON: No. We have not received any. We have not received any this morning from the highways. But our crews are out across the state, so, I mean, they're going to be alert...

HARRIS: Yes.

JOHNSON: ... to those kinds of situations.

HARRIS: Do you figure you may have to get some help from neighboring states?

JOHNSON: We will take that as it comes today. Right now, we can handle this with our own recourses.

HARRIS: All right. Well, here is hoping that you can, and we're wishing you luck.

JOHNSON: Absolutely. Well, thank you very much.

HARRIS: All right, Sherri Johnson, we thank you very much and wish you luck. You've got a lot of work to do today.

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