OES: Caution, patience still advised in Central and Southern region of state on second day of storm

SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. — Winter storm Jonas toppled more than a foot of snow in parts of Central, South Central, and Southeastern West Virginia starting late Friday morning and continuing into Saturday morning.

Even though Winter Storm Jonas shut down much of normal, everyday life in these parts, it didn’t stop one bread distributor from attempting to re-stock the shelves of stores in the area.

“I’m one of the bread distributors for Flowers Baking Company,” Brian Herndon said. “I’m going to go down and shovel my truck out so we can get some bread out.”

Herndon and his friend Michael Pomeroy were two of the few who could be seen braving the storm as it continued to fall Saturday morning in Summersville.

“Today, we got up pretty early to get the driveway all cleared out so we can get out when the weather gets better,” Michael Pomeroy of Summersville said.

Herndon said he wanted to get more bread out to stores despite approximately 14-15 inches of snow–with that total rising as the day goes on.

“I’ve done got pictures from the stores,” he said. “Shelves are empty.”

Convenience stores like U-Save in downtown Summersville remained open on Saturday, but didn’t have any bread to spare.

“They were glad that we were open and they had products that they wanted,” she said. “My shelf is now empty.”

Empty shelves at Summersville U-Save
Empty shelves at Summersville U-Save

“Just before the storm, things were a little busy,” Rachel Gohill from U-Save said. “Not too much so, and since the storm has hit folks just can’t get out.”

In virtually every county in the area, snowfall exceeded one foot. In higher elevations, snowfall could have been closer to two feet.

The National Weather Service has issued warnings through 1 AM Sunday morning for the following counties: Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh, and Roane.

Greenbrier County has a warning effective through 6 AM Sunday morning with gusts as high as 35 miles per hour blowing snow and creating drifts.

“We’re constantly watching the wind temperature and wind speed to see,” Whitaker said. “We’re hoping it doesn’t cause any issues. Our biggest concern right now is it drifting back on the road ways and causing power outages.”

Greenbrier County had slightly fewer than 300 power outages Saturday, lasting for about three hours. Whitaker said, thankfully, that has been the extent of the outages so far.

The major roads and highways in Greenbrier County have snow on them, but have been plowed. Like in many of these counties, Whitaker is recommending you stay off roads even if they have been treated.

“They still do have some snow on them, but they are plowed down,” he said. “They are passable. We are still recommending that people if they don’t have to get out of them to stay at home as much as possible as that allows the Department of Highways to stay on top of keeping the roads clear.”

Major roads like Route 19, which runs through Braxton, Nicholas, Fayette, and Raleigh County in this portion of the state have been unanimously deemed “passable, but not recommended” by 911 directors in the region.

The snow is expected to continue falling, possibly dropping an additional ten inches in some parts of these regions.





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