FRANKLIN
According to the National Weather Service, accumulation of snow over the next pair of days could be as much as 4-7 inches in Western Tidewater.

It snowed on Tuesday, and less than an inch was expected to stick to the ground. However, tonight is when it really will start to pick up, as snow accumulation could be as much as 2-4 inches. During the day on Thursday, another 1-2 inches of snow could top that off.

Over the period, lows are projected to get into the high teens, but some highs above freezing are possible, particularly during the day today.

Franklin City Manager Randy Martin hadn’t wanted to hear this news — in fact, he was ready for the spring. But, the city’s emergency services, including public works, are prepared, he said.

“We just restocked for the next one,” Martin said, adding with a laugh that he had hoped the next one would be next year. “We will be monitoring it as the week goes on.”

The city manager also praised staff for the job they did during this past week’s storm.

“I want to thank those public servants who responded, particularly those who work around the clock during things of this nature,” Martin said. “We were very fortunate what public works did in the proceeding effort of getting our main roads cleared in a timely manner, so that city life could continue, and then getting the schools cleared next, so that school could resume.”

He said they had minimal outages, but there had been one in Ward 4, which was not related to ice, as a resident had knocked down a tree over the road and onto power lines.

“Their response time was excellent,” said Mona Murphy, Ward 4’s representative. “They got the tree cut up fast, within a 40-minute time frame. And a few minutes after the electric department was able to get there, the lights were on.”

Ward 2 representative Benny Burgess said that he was thankful the city has its own utility people, particularly during events of this nature.

“A lot of time, I hear things about how we run the utility department, and some even suggest that we consider selling it and having Dominion take us over,” he said. “I dare say that Dominion couldn’t even get a truck to us in less than an hour, much less have it fixed.”

Martin said that during the extreme cold, outages were kept to a minimum and did not go for an extended period.

“With how cold it was getting, it’s not hard to figure out how dangerous that would be for people if it went for an extended period,” he said. “Sometimes, we forget that people have to respond. And our public servants rose to the occasion quite admirably.”