08:00 Winter Weather Update

Lee County Government and the City of Sanford are working on a delayed schedule opening at 12:00 today. Lee County Schools are closed. COLT’s transportation is also closed.


It appears that the snow has left the area and moved onto the coastal plains of North Carolina. Lee County first started receiving sleet around 8:00PM last evening with very little, if any accumulations. Heavier amounts began to fall around 10:30-11:00PM with moderate accumulations. The wintery mix changed completely over to snow after midnight with the heaviest snow fall occurring between 01:00-05:00am resulting in a accumulations of 3-8 inches of snow across the county. At 3:00am this morning, US1 Southbound and HWY 78 in both direction were completely closed due to tractor trailers that had jackknifed in the roadways resulting in considerable traffic backups. Last night’s storm was very localized with surrounding counties receiving very little accumulation. The roads in our county are littered with abandoned vehicles that became stranded throughout the early morning hours. EMS and Fire crews responded to multiple motor vehicle accidents across the county with the most serious occurring on HWY 421 South this morning. The driver of the vehicle at fault jumped and ran and was apprehended by the Lee County Sheriff’s office after a foot pursuit that lasted over thirty minutes. They were also assisted by WRAL’s Sky 5 piloted by Steve Wiley. Road conditions continue to improve but we urge people to stay off the roads this morning and allow crews to continue to clear the roadways.

I have spoken with Representatives from Progress Energy this morning and they relayed the following information: There are approximately 6500 customers without power. They are lines down that will have to be restrung and they have crews en-route to Lee County to aid in restoring the power. Local power crews have been working throughout the night to restore power and they also have damage assessment teams in the field working to minimize the power outage down time. We should begin to see power restored early afternoon to mid afternoon today. Please be patient as they work diligently to restore the power across the county.

Special thanks to Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Sanford Police Department, Central Carolina Advanced Life Support and our local fire departments for all their help throughout the night.

Be safe…….Be prepared,

Shane