Forecasters say bad weather was above Wilson
By John Joyce
Published in News on February 26, 2015 1:46 PM
The snow and ice forecast to inundate Wayne County with one to three inches of accumulation missed the area Wednesday night. Instead, freezing rain and then rain continued to fall all night long.
National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Moneypenny said the snow came as close as Wilson, which received two inches of snow.
Wayne County saw two inches of rain instead.
"The line where the weather system changed seems to be right along the lines of northern Wayne and northern Harnett county," Moneypenny said. "I live in northern Harnett County and as soon as I crossed over into southern Wake County coming into work this morning, things changed drastically."
Despite dodging the bullet as far as weather Wednesday, drivers did something they failed to do the night before -- they stayed home, law enforcement officials said
The Goldsboro Police Department investigated 50 wrecks in the city alone Tuesday. The N.C. State Highway Patrol investigated many more.
"Oh mercy, lets see. One, two, three... thirty-two ... ," First Sgt. Jerry Burton said.
He stopped counting at 63.
Wednesday night was a reprieve in contrast.
"Last night, there were very few," he said.
Troopers working day shifts stayed out longer and night shift troopers adjusted their schedules.
"What we do is we adjust for incoming storms. A 9-hour shift becomes 10 or 12 hours," Burton said.
He said troopers were called in even if they had scheduled off time.
The Goldsboro Police Department investigated no weather-related wrecks Wednesday -- none -- although rain did threaten to flood one abandoned car.
"There were no weather-related wrecks reported overnight due to the rainy conditions," Capt. Dwayne Dean said in an email.
The abandoned car resulted instead form an alleged drunken driver.
Thomas Arthur Akers, 56, of 420 Hunters Creek Drive in Goldsboro drove his car into a ditch along West New Hope Road near the intersection with North Berkeley Boulevard.
The car was reported by a passing motorist.
According to the accident report, Akers told police he was run off the road by another driver and crashed into the ditch full of water. He said he immediately got out of his car and walked to the gas station across Berkeley, the report said.
Officers found Akers at the gas station shortly thereafter and observed him to have glassy red eyes and altered speech. The report also said Akers was "very unsteady" on his feet.
A field sobriety test was conducted including a Portable Breath Test which indicated a .30 breath alcohol content. Akers had his keys in his pocket and admitted to driving, the report said.
He was later released on a written promise.
-- Staff Writer Ethan Smith contributed to this story.