A light rain followed by temperatures that quickly fell below freezing caused a blanket of black ice to cover county road ways early Tuesday morning. Around 5:00 am, 911 dispatchers received a call of a semi-truck wrecked on I-79 near the Clay/Braxton County line. The truck, which was carrying packages from Amazon.com, had hit a patch of black ice causing the semi to slide out of control into the median of the interstate. The driver was transported to Braxton Hospital with minor injuries. As emergency personnel began to respond to the call, they quickly discovered for themselves how treacherous the roads really were. Burke Nicholas, a volunteer fireman, hit a patch of black ice en route to the initial traffic accident, causing his automobile to crash and causing Nicholas to receive substantial injuries. Travel was heavily impeded by the condition, causing several accidents across the region. Clay County school administrators chose to operate schools on a 2 hour delay as a safeguard for personnel and students travelling to school.
