PITTSBORO – Tropical Storm Michael downed numerous trees in Randolph and Chatham counties, where about 90 roads remain impassable this morning.
Maintenance crews for the N.C. Department of Transportation are cutting up trees and shoving them off the shoulder to reopen roads where possible. But in many cases, they must wait for utility companies to arrive first and de-energize power lines tangled in the debris. Power companies are working hard, too, to restore electricity.
“We are clearing what we can today, but because of the power lines that went down with the trees, we’ll need to work through this weekend to reopen most of the roads,” said Chuck Dumas, the NCDOT’s Division 8 maintenance engineer.
In addition to Randolph and Chatham counties, the division’s territory also includes Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond and Scotland counties.
Michael blew through North Carolina on Thursday with heavy rains and dangerous wind guests. It left behind about 350 impassable roads across the state this morning.
In Division 8, these four primary routes are closed: U.S. 220 in Randolph County; U.S. 220 Alternate in Montgomery County; and N.C. 902 and N.C. 42 in Chatham County.
The division is relying on more than 200 employees and five contractors, which are using various equipment such as chain saws, dump trucks and backhoes, in response to the storm.
Randolph had 49 secondary roads closed this morning due to downed trees, followed by Chatham County with 40 secondary routes. Lee, Moore and Hoke counties had no road closures this morning following the storm. Here is a look at the other divisional counties:
- Scotland: five closures
- Montgomery: three closures
- Richmond: one closure
To speed up the road clearing, Division 8 is redeploying forces from counties without closures to the harder-hit ones.
There are 14 other roads in the division that remain impassable in the wake of Hurricane Florence last month, down from a peak of nearly 200. The department is repairing washouts and replacing culverts to reopen those roads, too.