Roanoke Rapids Police Chief Chuck Hasty advised motorists to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary.

“If you are sledding be careful,” he said.

Four minor wrecks were reported overnight as well as a vehicle in the ditch on Interstate 95.

The storm has forced the cancellation of the police department's last day of a citywide food drive until next Friday.

Schools across the area are closed, including Halifax Community College.

“This is a major snowstorm for the South,” Roanoke Rapids Public Works Director Larry Chalker said this morning.

Public Works crews began storm preparation around 8 p.m. Wednesday and began plowing around 1:30 this morning.

The department will have used some 16,000 gallons of brine by the end of the event, Chalker said. Crews were using some 80 tons of salt and 100 tons of sand.

Chalker echoed Hasty about staying off roads unless necessary. “If you can imagine a big truck with a plow it's difficult enough to go through with parked cars and cars on the roadway.”

Halifax County Sheriff Wes Tripp said roads in the county were bad this morning. “If you don't need to go anywhere stay at home. We will offer transportation to doctors and nurses.”

State Department of Transportation have been working throughout the night to clear roads, Tripp said. “They're doing a fantastic job. We've got 720 square miles in Halifax County. DOT is doing a great job. I would ask that everyone be patient.”

The forecast for the remainder of the day calls for some mixed precipitation with temperatures in the mid-30s and an overnight low of 21 degrees. Friday's forecast is calling for partly to mostly cloudy skies with a high around 39 and an overnight low of 17.