Two members of a Virginia family were seriously injured in a snow-related accident on Interstate 74 Sunday afternoon as this area continues digging its way out from a snowstorm that could close Surry schools the entire week.

Mount Airy City and Surry County schools will not be operating today and perhaps longer at least in the county, officials said Sunday.

Meanwhile, a young girl was thrown from her family’s four-wheel-drive compact vehicle about 12:30 p.m. Sunday on Interstate 74-West near Red Brush Road, according to Surry Emergency Services Director John Shelton.

The westbound vehicle ran into patchy snow on the interstate, causing the driver to lose control, Shelton said. The vehicle, which contained seven or eight members of the unidentified family, then overturned in the median and ended up on the opposite portion of the highway.

Along with the girl, whose age and address were unavailable, being ejected during the accident, her mother suffered a head injury. Shelton said the two were in “serious, but stable” condition when transported to the trauma center at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem.

The rest of the family members were taken to Northern Hospital of Surry County.

No other information about the accident or the victims’ conditions was available Sunday afternoon.

Another major accident resulting from the weather, which involved a tractor-trailer, occurred about 10 p.m. Saturday near Exit 100 of Interstate 77 near the Virginia border.

The rig, operated by a trucker Shelton said was from out of state, hit a slick spot on the interstate and overturned. The driver escaped injury. “He was up and walking around when we got on the scene,” Shelton said of paramedics.

He added that the cargo was safe and no fuel spill resulted from the wreck. “I’m not sure what the cargo was,” the EMS director said.

Surfaces Remain Tricky

Shelton said Sunday afternoon that the most recent accident resulted from a condition in which drivers mistakenly were assuming major roadways were totally clear and getting into trouble when encountering slick spots.

“There’s a lot of false security here driving right now,” he said of the situation Sunday, which likely will be a factor today as well. Shelton said many vehicles were traveling 60 to 65 miles per hour on major routes, not allowing for the potential of encountering treacherous surfaces.

“Actually, we’re more worried about the situation now than we were during the snowfall, because people were driving slow then,” Shelton said.

After Saturday’s overnight low temperatures in the lower teens, road conditions in this area were aided greatly by warmer readings on Sunday.

“I think it warmed up quite a bit more than they predicted,” Mount Airy Public Services Director Jeff Boyles said in reference to weather forecasters. Highs in the low 30s had been expected Sunday, but the mercury climbed to the upper 30s instead.

“We’ve been out there all day taking advantage of this weather,” Boyles said Sunday. “There’s some areas that look good and some still look terrible.”

The scenario was expected to become complicated overnight Sunday with an expected low of 12 degrees, meaning driving today could remain problematic.

“There’s a lot of treacherous areas out there,” said Boyles. “I would urge people to use caution.”

The city spokesman added that some of the smaller residential streets might continue to be hard to negotiate until clearing crews can cover the entire city and warmer temperatures do their part as well.

Mount Airy received a snowfall total of exactly 7 inches, according to a spokesman at F.G. Doggett Water Plant, the city’s official weather-monitoring station.

Schools Shakeup

Though the decision to close both Mount Airy and Surry County schools today for students and staff members was “pretty obvious” in the words of county Superintendent Dr. Ashley Hinson, the impact on schedules later this week remains to be seen.

Given road conditions in the farthest reaches of the county, Hinson didn’t rule out the chance of classes being canceled the entire week. “I think that’s a possibility,” he said. “You know, it all depends on how much work is done by the utility folks and exactly how much the temperature helps us.”

Hinson said an “educated guess” is that county schools would be closed at least through Wednesday.

The Surry educational leader added that staff members might wind up working days students are excused for because of the weather, and that the system also has the option of implementing a special snow plan that includes limited bus routes.

“So we’ll consider that depending on how long we’re out,” Hinson said.

Dr. Darrin Hartness, superintendent of city schools, declined to make a prediction Sunday on how long Mount Airy’s class schedules could be disrupted.

“I don’t want to comment on that at this point,” Hartness said. System officials will continue to assess the situation as the week progresses and act accordingly, he indicated.

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