Governor Jack Markell (D-Delaware) has lifted the limited state of emergency and Level One driving warnings he put in place in New Castle and Kent County Thursday morning.
As the snow and sleet switched to rain and in some places stopped, Markell lifted the driving warning first in Kent County at noon, then New Castle County at 2pm.
Markell says he's grateful for the response by workers around the state to Thursday’s storm, praising DelDOT workers, National Guard members, state police and others for their efforts.
Emergency responders and maintenance crews have piled up the overtime hours this winter dealing with the effects of the recent - and frequent - extreme weather events.
“We’ve got a limited amount of DelDOT workers, for example, who week after week are out there; they’re out through the night. It’s incredibly hard work for them; it’s exhausting, but they’re weathering it very, very well," Markell said. "And so we've got a lot of people working really hard, and this is what we do. And I'm grateful to them.”
While responders have been put to the task this winter, other agencies and schools have to deal with frequent closings.
Forecasts are still calling for the possibility of additional snow or sleet Thursday night, especially in New Castle County, but the governor said any decisions regarding state office closings for Friday will wait until the morning.
“It’s really premature to talk about what may happen [Friday]," said Markell, "but the emergency response people are all over it, and we’ll let people know as soon as we make any kind of decisions.”
