From wrecks on Interstate 77 to canceling Mount Airy’s Veterans Day observance, Tropical Storm Ida definitely made her presence known in this area.

The remnants of the storm brought 3.5 inches of rain to the city in a 48-hour period that ended Thursday at 7 a.m., according to personnel at F.G. Doggett Water Plant, the official weather-monitoring station locally.

That two-day total was more than Mount Airy received the entire month of October, based on statistics at the facility.

Despite warnings of flash flooding, Surry Emergency Services Director John Shelton said the county was spared major problems.

“A lot of our small streams are up,” Shelton said Thursday. “We haven’t had any locations reported as flooded yet.”

However, “a lot of cases” of water finding its way into roadways occurred, according to Shelton. He said that was largely a result of debris clogging storm drains, mostly fallen leaves.

Wrecks On I-77

Multiple accidents occurred on Interstate 77 just across the Virginia line as a result of the wet conditions, based on published reports.

A tractor-trailer transporting ceramic tiles overturned during heavy rain Wednesday morning near Mile Marker 3, with the tiles strewn over about a 200-yard section of the roadway. At least three other vehicles struck the rig afterward.

Two other accidents involving truckers then occurred, one in which a tractor-trailer jackknifed and hit a camper and another where a vehicle was struck by a truck.

Troopers said all those collisions were interrelated.

Several people were transported from the affected scenes with injuries not thought to be life-threatening, with Cana’s rescue squad and volunteer fire department responding.

Traffic was backed up on I-77 for hours as a result of the wrecks.

Wet Trend Continues

Even without the effects of Tropical Storm Ida, the Mount Airy area has done well this year where filling the rain gauges is concerned.

Through October, the area received 46.02 inches of precipitation, nearly 18 percent above normal for the first 10 months of the year.

Already for the first 12 days of November, Mount Airy has been drenched by 4.67 inches of rain — as of Thursday morning — which exceeds the normal average for the month of about 3 inches.

And while this has been a wetter-than-normal year, there is a ways to go before the annual all-time high for Mount Airy can be broken.

The record total for one year is the 69.96 inches recorded in 2003, according to a water plant spokesman. Weather records have been kept in Mount Airy since 1924.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.