What's Happening in Winston-Salem, NC…

On January 22, local service workers were called out to deal a mammoth blizzard, with city and county personnel working together.

That day, the storm slammed the eastern United States, dumping feet of snow in some places. In Winston-Salem, Mayor Allen Joines said the city was in “full snow mode”, as was Forsyth County.

County and city leaders set up an emergency operations center so they could communicate with one another. In addition, the city beefed up its 911 call center staff, and put 25-30 trucks on the streets. With so many operations going on simultaneously, clear communications were vital.

Joines noted that the forecast had been for snow, but as the storm veered off its predicted track, ice became part of the mix, and presented an entirely new set of problems to the agencies. However, officials noted that residents helped efforts by remaining off the roads. They requested that people continue to stay at home, leaving crews room to work, even after the storm had ceased.

Winston-Salem had salted more than 400 miles of road by noon on Friday, January 22, and planned to continue as long as necessary.

As the city gets back to normal, officials might work with a flyer printing company on a mailer for residents, describing what they should do in the case of future events like this.