Lucas Adcock
Staff Writer
No, I’m not referring to the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, but the sweeping ice storm that pummeled the U. S. over the past weekend. This ice storm broke records in several departments including ice accumulation, some places seeing upwards to an inch or more of ice, leaving emergency declarations issued across 24 or so states during the event. These snow, ice and cold warnings have affected 230 million Americans that were in the impact zone, with some reports suggesting that the winter storm footprint has been described as large enough to cover 34 states across the country, affecting travel, energy systems and infrastructure.
Thousands of school districts have shifted to remote learning or shut down entirely across many states due to hazardous ice, snow and travel conditions. This includes our home state of West Virginia, with closures covering all 55 counties in some fashion. As of January 26, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey stated that more than 12,000 West Virginia residents were without power. And though the snowfall range fell below what had been forecast, a day or two of freezing rain left travel conditions nearly impossible in some locations, Governor Morrisey thanked the hardworking road crews and then said, “We know the conditions across the state remain hazardous, and I want all West Virginians to do everything they can to stay safe.”
Though many will continue without power for what could be a week or more in several states, crews are hard at work repairing the causes of power outages which include many downed poles from pure ice-coverage, or trees that have fallen due to an accumulation of ice.
