HALIFAX — “Everything’s going pretty well as far as the county goes,” Halifax County Manager Tony Brown recently summed up conditions.

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Brown said things are progressing as well as they can under the winter storm circumstances.

Sgt. R. E. Dudley, of the North Carolina Highway Patrol, agreed. He said there were 72 calls for service in Halifax County since Friday, when the winter weather started. Northampton County faired a little better with only 27 calls. None of the calls were serious. "Just minor things."

District engineer for the Department of Transportation in Halifax, Ronnie Keeter, said his crews are working around the clock to ensure things get back to normal as soon as possible.

“Please be patient. These guys are working as hard as they can to get these roads cleared.”

Keeter said, “There may be some icy spots Wednesday morning,” he said. “It’s not supposed to go much below freezing, but you still need to go slow.”

Keeter reiterated the same message that’s come from county and state officials since the storm started dumping snow on the Roanoke Valley Friday night, “If you don’t have to go anywhere, don’t go.”

Keeter said spraying roads with brine before the storm helped road crews considerably. “Brining helped us get ahead of the curve,” he said. “Then the salt doesn’t have to burn through to the pavement. It can melt from both sides.”

Keeter said the department has used about 1,400 tons of salt since the storm started. “That’s a lot of salt,” he said.

The storm dumped anywhere from 6 to 8 inches of snow and ice on the Valley.

Brown said it was a good thing this storm happened on the weekend, otherwise there might have been a lot more problems for the county.

Keeter said his department is looking with weary eyes toward this weekend when the threat for more wintry weather may rear its head again.