Delta is proud to be the official Airline Partner of the grammy awards. Delta, keep climbing. This is your Hometown News leader, wdbj 7. We are wdbj 7. Good evening and thanks for staying up late with us. Im melissa goanan. This winter has been a slick one and deadly one for the eastern part of our commonwealth. Three fatal crashes have been reported in cheter field and faukier county. Struck by cars at crash sites in the Metro Richmond region. The firefighter and one trooper were not badly hurt, but a state trooper in Chesterfield County across the commonwealth, state police have responded to almost 100 crashes tonight. A 47yearold from farmville is charged with reckless driving after an accident today in appomattox county that september her and five passengers to lynchburg general hospital. Three of those were children ages 2, 7, and 13. State police say it happened just after noon today on route 460. The woman was heading west when she lost control, ran off the road, then flipped her suv. Investigators say speed was a factor. The woman was also charged with two child restraint violations. The 2 and 7 year olds were sharing a regular seat belt instead of being in individual child safety seats. The sleet and freezing rain is slowing down traffic along all roads, including interstate 81. Thats where wdbj 7s Christian Heilman has been looking all evening. Christian, how is it looking at where you are right now you . Right now weve got this freezing rain thats been coming oclock leaving all the roads icy. Definitely nothing that you want to travel on. Most people have listened to vdots advice and stayed off the road, but not everyone we found. The only kind of drivers youll find on i81 are determined. Every state weve stopped in, we are like, okay, maybe it will stop. Like no, it just seems to be getting worse. Mandy duncan and her family along the way from new york to florida very slowly. You can see out of our lane. We had to take ice off the headlights. Were trying to beat t trying to beat it home. That seemed unlikely monday night. Being stranded at a rest stop doesnt sound like any fun either unless youre one of these. You guys think its warm here. By the time you get to virginia, its warm. Betty is understandably upset with our weather. Shed rather be in daytona. We were up at 4 30 this morning. We havent been able to go like we were supposed to go. If youre stuck, the motor home and the tv beats a radio. Tdot is encouraging folks to stay home. Theyre concerned about ice, flooding, and ponding on the roads overnight. A lot of the drainage structures are covered up right now with snow in the ditch line. Its a message betty is listening to, because shes determined to get to florida in one piece. You can end upside ways in the ditch. We may never get to daytona. Theyve got something to look forward to. Tdot says they might have a chance to get to some of those secondary roads, but they definitely will not get to all of them overnight. Live in roanoke county, Christian Heilman, wdbj 7. And this storm has lived up to all of its projections with snow and ice and yet to come, very, very heavy rain. We do a sampling of the snowfall total examples this one is very representative from a little bit of snow in danville to a lot in blacksburg. Roanoke ended up with about 8. We actually have about 8 and a right now, and that is the ice thats been building up with sleet and the freezing rain that has been a factor this evening. Still pockets of it fairly heavy in the metro area right now, and to the new river valley. That has been the pattern where its been coming up through franklin county. More along the south side all day long, but as we watch the last hour it has thinned out a little bit. They need it, because they were looking at icy conditions all evening and along bedford and to alta voice it and eddington looking better this evening. Lynchburg not as bad either. About a quarter of an inch or less weve seen coating the region. Right now the temperatures are looking like theyre in the twenties and thirties. We need to do something to get them up just a little bit so we can come out of this winter storm warning n a few minutes, chief meteorologist mark watts out on the weather deck, out on the ice. Hes got a couple things to show you about later tonight and tomorrow. Vdot wants to you stay off the roads tonight crewses say it major crashes throughout the valley. Roads are slick. They could be getting even worse. Emergency crews have stayed busy tonight responding. Interstate 81 north has reopened in pulaski county. A tractortrailer crash closed it earlier this evening. A woman wrecked and tote he would her car last night near exit 118. Shes now stranded with her family. Wdbj 7s justin ward has their story. Staff at the days inn in blacksburg were welcome togoland northern and her family, but staying here wasnt part of their plans. I have tried so much, i can not share the tears right now. Northern has headed to chesterfield, virginia, to arkansas with her two daughters and four grandchildren and into the heart of this winter storm when it happened. I was going 45 Miles Per Hour and this big truck came and it kind of fish tailed. So i ended up running head into a guardrail. Their struggles didnt end there. Her daughter was september to she and the rest of her family eventually got rides from Law Enforcement to lewisdale hospital, montgomery. The airbag explode and it burned my hand and my neck. The children were okay. Some of them left with bruises and cuts and with what they thought was a reservation at the hotel across the street. So they walked through the snow, only to get turned away, because staff told her there were no clean rooms. That misunderstanding introduced them to a Good Samaritan, who told us about their story and who helped them find a place to get warm in another motel about a block away. I dont know what her last name is, but you are an age and my family, we love you. That was wdbj 7s justin ward reporting. A Good Samaritan donated pizza to the family tonight. A friend from richmond is taking them home tomorrow. Law enforcement says if you wreck during a winter storm, put on your blinkers and be patient. We continue our winter county where we find wdbj 7s kyle re chi restuart. How is it going there . The snow is done. Weve had on and off rain, for the most part the snow is done. And right now my concern is the freezing temperatures and the ice out here. I want to show you what the so looks like out here. Some people learn the hard way if you dont have to go out, just walk or stay at home. The snow isnt the only thing to come down. Its pretty crazy. I dont see anything like this. Like i said, every once in a while, you have nothing like this. Employees at this gas station on east main street said they were shocked when a truck came sliding down the hill and hit a vdot has been asking drivers to stay off the roads while snowplows work to clear the scads. These two residents decided to walk. I decided at 8 00 this morning, taking care of what youve got to do. Youve got to eat. Thats something workers at the Double DragonChinese Restaurant know all too well. It takes more than an hour. Employee cindy chen said they try to stay open, whether it rains or snows. She says business at the state has been mostly takeout orders. Its good. Aa lot of place close and had some people dont know where they can go eat. Either way, everyone is sure of one thing. That is a first. This is great for bedford. This type of in virginia . Were in a spot in virginia. We dont get crazy weather up toward new york and everything like. Likely employees tell mow that nobody was seriously hurt in that gas pump accident. Looking at the latest river conditions by downloading the wdbj 7 weather app. For now, live in bedford, khiree stewart, wdbj 7. George w. Bush returned to the campaign trail for his brother jeb. He rallied voters in north charleston, south carolina, sharing what it takes to be president. He says hes sure his brother can do the job. Its a serious job that requires sound judgment and good ideas, and theres no doubt in my mind that jeb bush has the experience and character to be a great president. The former President Point to the namecalling thats taken place in the 2016 president ial election. He also told the crowd, quote, we do not need someone in the oval office who mirrors and inflames our frustrations. The death of Antonin Scalia on saturday is leaving the with four conservative and four liberal justices. Every gop president ial candidate has said the next president should appoint the replacement, but president obama pledged he would do it. I plan to fulfill my Constitutional Responsibilities to nominate a successor in due time. Today, demonstrators gathered on the snowy steps of the Supreme Court to urge senators to consider the president s nomination. A judge ruled scalia died of natural causes. A texas judge, a local one there, and that no autopsy is necessary. He had a history of heart trouble and other illnesses. A planned parenthood clinic Colorado Springs is now back open, nearly three months after three people were killed in a shooting there. Nine others were hurt. Planned parenthood Officials Say they have stepped up security measures since novembers shooting. Officials hope to completely reopen the clinic a few months. The selfconfessed gunman is due back in court next week. New york governor elliot spieser. A detail for something that large is unbelievable. More on an unusual collection in virginia thats so big, it can be seen from space. Call it 800,000 pounds. Thats patriotism. Tomorrow on wdbj 7 morning, winter storm will continue to exit the area with a major warming trend as we head toward the weekend. Ill have the details. Well have all your School Special report, misunderstanding joining the u. S. In condemning the bombing of a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in syria. The hospital was one of five medical facilities the United Nations said was bombed today. Two schools were also targeted. Dozens of civilians were killed, including children. The attack cast a shadow on commitments made on a cease fire agreement that was set to go into effect this week. Investigators are looking into whether former new york governor eliot spieser assaulted a woman in a hotel over the weekend. Police were first called to the hotel after the woman tried to slit her wrists. She said spieser was her boyfriend and attempted to choke her. They were saggering because the woman was planning to return to her native russia when things got violent. His spokesperson says theres no he resigned as governor nearly eight years ago after being caught using a high end prostitution service. Storms are causing problems for many parts of the south tonight. Possible tornados in mississippi today. Many cars a long with a school, were damaged because of falling trees. At least one home was destroyed, but no reports of any injuries crewses are working tonight and tomorrow to clean up the damage. Today the National Park service announced an 18 million donation to fix up the Lincoln Memorial. The money will help fix the memorials roof, clean the marble, and accessibility. The Parks Department plans to create 15,000 feet of visitors space for exhibits. The Lincoln Memorial draws more than 7 million visitors every year. George washingtons 284th Birthday Celebration set for today in mount vernon were canceled because of the nasty weather. Thats according to the alexandria times. And roof laying ceremony at washingtons tomb had to be scrapped. What better day an president s day to celebrate a man who celebrates all yearround. A man outside williamsburg has the heads of 43 president s hanging out in his backyard. How did he get such a collection . He found them in the trash. These cultures dotted the landscape of a williamsburg theme park, but the park went bust and the lambed was cause of actioned off. The man owns a concrete recycling business and was hired to crush each sculpture into approximate little pieces. They asked me if i could get rid of this stuff and i said, sure, im get rid of it. The statues were free, but moving them cost him about 50 grand. Hes now looking for a new home for them. His vision is that they will get kids interested in americas history. Maybe hell make back that 50 grand when he sells them. That theme park went bust . Thats a good one. A double dose of exciting news today. Exciting day for stars wars fans. And you can get your hands on tickets for this years 611 excursion. Plus the kind of ice thats hot right now. If diamonds are a girls best friend this, chunk just shot up to the bff list. You hear that, robin . I did. And the ice is outside right now, where we mind our chief when will welcome to the wdbj 7 weather deck where the rain is falling down. It is freezing. One thing i can tell you in the past half hour or so is were starting to get some puddles on top of the glaze of ice that we had before. Now that rain is picking up a little bit more. Weve got reports to a quarter to as much as a half an inch of ice in some areas, especially it should the south side where weve had no freezing rain. Showing you the model, trying to pinpoint some of the heaviest of ice ago cross the area. Thats going to be the main concern until we get the actual surface temperatures here on the ground above freezing. Theyre thinking thats going to take a good portion of the rest of the night. We see about mid morning before that starts to get above freezing in most locations. So lets talk about the other part of this process, too. So weve got the rain thats falling down. We also have moisture in the snow today, so theres going to be a little more of a flood kernin side of the snow that fell today. Weve got a half i know to have about an inch of water. And then did we get anywhere and a half of rain falling on top of that . So that puts our total rainfall or moisture that were going to get about 2 to 3 inches in 36 hours. So thats why were a little more concerned that were going to have some flooding problems with that, especially ponding water in the morning for the morning commute. Its going to be really slushy and then were going to have to keep an eye on creeks, streams, and the rivers as we go through the rest of wednesday and into thursday, because all of this will be melting as we warm up. Lets head inside to meteorologist robin reid. Robin, super slick out here. Avoid driving, much less doing walking on the sidewalk. Super slick. You dont have far to go. Dont fall in that six feet youve got to get to that back door. As you saw, very, very wet. Very slippery. Now water set okay top of ice. Theres no traction there whatsoever. What we are seeing is a little bit of improvement in the amount of moisture coming up. Its tried up a little bit here in south side virginia, a place thats been eating ice for most see the rain closer to far southwest. Put those two together and starts to speak of a warming trend. Primarily being caused by the dynamics of the system thats coming up our way. It was tornadic to the south earlier. Now it is just driving rain up into the carolinas, which of course helps the temperatures out a little bit. This is where we think were going to be tomorrow. Look at the forties, the 50s, and 60s right in the mid atlantic in the small compact area. So a lot of melting. A lot of improvement in some ways, but in otherwise its just hang on to all the things that are headed our way. Theres the heavy rain first thing in the morning, and as we see it slide out, theres a afternoon. So we expect maybe we might even see some sunshine out of this. You can see some snow bands still here to the west, though. Another clipper system is going to come through and theres a pretty good chance the newer valley is going to catch at tomorrow night, wednesday morning. Are in the twenties and thirties and we expect them to go up first thing tomorrow. Rain is likely, then some increase in sunshine with high temperatures in the forties and the 50s. 52 in danville. That will be just the ticket to kind of get them out of this wintery weather that theyve been in, which was more ice than snow. Just a couple inches there. Partly cloudy by wednesday. Starting the trend in mid forties for the highs. Up to the 50s friday. Possibly touch 60 by saturday with mainly sunny skies. You can now buy tickets for several 611 train excursions this spring that include the roanoke valley. The roanokeer will travel from grens bro, north carolina, to roanoke. Will travel to radford on may 7 and 8 and the pelican will also travel from myrna to radford on way 7 and 8. Tickets range from 100 to a thousand. Check this out. Four dozen people had to be rescued yesterday in new york after two trams broke down. Folks had to rappel 40 feet down through a hash at the bottom of the tram. No one was hurt and Officials Say a mechanical issue caused the braking system to turn on and it will be at least another day before the problem is fixed. Film minute for the next big stars wars movie episode eight got underway today. Disney also announced new cast members youll see in theaters, which will hit september 2017. Joining her is veteran access lawyer you an concern, bestknown for her original Jurassic Park movie. Benito dell torso will star in the new film, which is yet to be named. Check out this hundred caret diamond found in after rick actual its about the learning of a credit card and experts say its virtually flawless. It could be worth about 20 million. Diamond ever recorded. One thing or would you split it up into different pieces . I say split it up in different pieces. No. One thing. Right there. Chris, the size of a credit card . I dont care. Show off that bling. Sports. Were talking sports. Heading down to daytona. I need a credit card to go down to daytona. Sports director travis wells is down there. You can countdown to the 500. Its cold. Virginia looking to rebound from sports from your Hometown News leader, wdbj 7. Good evening. Im zac with a look at your reports. The virginia whips Basketball Team suffered a tough loss over the weekend as duke put in a controversial game winner at the buzzer. Tonight a chance for redemption to the nations seven ranked team. You just saw Justin Anderson announce, and he likes to be with former teammate malcolm broadman. He goes into half tied at 31. Anthony gill there with the gam and on the runout. Isaiah to wilkins, cast off a he was up 11. Broad youman keeps it rolling, goes nine of 13 from the four. Game high you 22 points. Solid shooting night. Flashes down one of his fivethrees on the night. He had 19 points as virginia cruises 7353. That ball in the second half of how we moved and shared it, and i dont know if nc state at all wore down or not, but we tried to have a level of patience is and toughness and really fight defensively. Theres much more fight defensively. We played very good tonight. We were able to play at home. Especially coming off of that loss, that was probably the best thing that they can come up with after the duke game and be able to play again yesterday. We do the a bad taste out of our mouth and were ready to move on. A big win for sure. Leading up to the weekend from the beach in daytona. Here in daytona beach, florida, a pair of rookie drivers have been the toast of speed week thus far. Chase elliot, who won the pole for the daytona 500 sunny and brian blaney, who solid qualifying efforts assured the wood drivers and the 21 machine of a starting spot on sundays Great American race. We have the opportunity of great race teams to have a chance next week, and i have a lot to learn before then. Ive never done any trafficking in these cars. Thats going to be new and like i said, just those days, the dual is on thursday is going to be important, and for me, just kind of take those and try to learn, but at the same time, be smart, note that go we are going to be starting on the front row. So we want to make sure that you have this car, but i still need to get in the positions where i need to learn and hopefully speed up that learning curve and try to give us a chance. Elliot has only to mask in ryan bryany can puff his chest out just a bit, too. After all the chatter the past week about the Wood Brothers not receiving one of 36 nascar charters, the sports oldest team prepared a lightning quick hot rod. This race car driver, this team, they dont care about anything else. They just want to go to the racetrack. I think thats what we are. So theyre just nice to them. So i know its not only me to get behind the wheel, but them working on the race car and working together as a team. It kind of gets them back in the swing of things, also. So its really neat all around to be in a race car. The cup drivers will be back in the world center of racing on tuesday to take part in media day festivities, followed by two more practice sessions on wednesday, ahead of thursday for the qualifying races n daytona beach, florida, travis wells, wdbj 7. All right. Thats a look at spo got a little ground troop from brent a second ago. Hes soaking wet. He says its pouring rain is and that rain is now set okay top of the ice. So its slippery, but it does speak to the transition were