ROANOKE CO., Va. – With sunshine helping to melt much of the ice on the roads, conditions have been improving across the area. However, a new challenge has emerged—fallen trees.
Fallen trees are the latest headache as winter weather barreled through our area, causing more than just traffic delays. Schools across the region remained closed Thursday as a result of downed trees blocking roads.
Roanoke County spokesperson Chuck Lionberger described the situation, saying, “Today we experienced something in Roanoke County that we haven’t really experienced to this degree in quite some time. It wasn’t really road conditions that were the problem, it was trees down.”
It wasn’t just Roanoke County—Roanoke City, Campbell County, Pulaski County, and more districts shut their doors again Thursday due to these conditions.
“Every time we are looking at this, can we get kids to and from school safely, we are looking at road conditions and in this particular case we are looking at just the infrastructure—can we get the buses in and out? With this many downed trees, it wasn’t going to happen,” Lionberger added.
For people like Amy King, it wasn’t just trees blocking the road, but trees falling right on her property.
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“So about 2 o’clock this morning, we lost some trees on our property, and we heard it, it actually shook the house. It was pretty loud, it shook,” Amy King said.
Living surrounded by trees; the Kings are no strangers to winter weather worries.
“I mean, your house is surrounded by trees, so when you guys have winter weather like this, do you get worried?” 10 News asked.
Amy responded, “I do, and that’s what I’m saying, I pray every night, ‘God, just protect our property.’ I can deal with trees falling, I can deal with not getting out, but what I can’t deal with is structural damage and anything going through the window of my home. But I’m just blessed and grateful this morning.”
While Amy King and many others are counting their blessings, emergency crews and road workers continue to clear trees and make sure roads are safe for the day ahead.
For more information on makeup days for Roanoke County, you can refer to the following resources: Virginia Code - Make-Up Schedule and Roanoke County Schools Make-Up Schedule.