Much of the state was busy bracing Friday for a winter storm.

Progress Energy Carolina said it was preparing for a storm that’s been forecasted to dump significant snow and ice over much of the company’s service area from Friday through Saturday.

The electric company has crews at the ready all the way from the Virginia state line, northeastern part of South Carolina to the North Carolina Mountains and coast, preparing vehicles and materials to respond to outages that may occur.

Crews from the company’s sister utility, Progress Energy Florida, are also being moved into the region ahead of the storm to assist as needed in restoring service in heavily damaged areas.

If during the storm you experience a power outage, you can call Progress Energy at (800) 419-6356.

Some standard tips from Progress include, if you’re using a generator in the event of an outage, operate it outside of your home and connect appliances directly to it, do not connect it to your fuse box. Also, never operate a charcoal or gas grill inside your home.

Bruce Simmons, director of marketing and communications for Pee Dee Electric, said the company spent much of Thursday readying its crew and linemen with information about the storm plan and making sure there’s a good communication system in place. All seven counties in the district are under the winter weather warning.

“We’re making sure everyone has equipment in order and that all trucks are topped off with fuel,” Simmons said. “We’re sharpening the edge of the blade, so to speak, so we can get out there as soon as possible when something happens.”

Simmons said the statewide organization, North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives, has not opened it’s storm center yet in Raleigh, but will as soon as the winter weather makes its way into the state.

“We’ll monitor it as it moves across the state and determine the severity,” Simmons said. “Through the center anyone with outages can call to other area co-ops for help, and we have contract electric companies who can help also. But so far it’s sunny out and we’re just gearing up. We anticipate it will probably begin tomorrow (Saturday) morning.”

Richmond County’s public utilities crews also started topping of their tanks and making sure all of their equipment worked ahead of the storm. And as a precaution, Richmond County Schools canceled Richmond Senior High School’s basketball game against Hoke County.

So far, forecasters with the National Weather Service have a winter storm warning for Edgecombe, Johnston, Wilson, Stanly, Montgomery, Moore, Lee, Harnett, Wayne, Anson, Richmond, Scotland, Hoke, Cumberland and Sampson counties.

The cold air spreading over central North Carolina is creating a low-pressure system moving across the lower Mississippi River Valley that will move across the deep south Friday night then into northeast off the Carolina coast late Saturday.

The National Weather Service (NWS) is calling for “damaging ice accumulations of a quarter inch or more ... . The precipitation will start as snow, rain mixed, then change to predominantly freezing rain late tonight and continue through Saturday. As much as a third of an inch ice accrual is expected.

The NWS said precipitation will be at its heaviest from Friday night through early Saturday afternoon.

For more information visit www.noaa.gov.

Staff writer Eren Tataragasi can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 19 or at etataragasi@yourdailyjournal.com.