Around 12:30 p.m. Monday, another wave of freezing rain reached York County and surrounding cities.  Click here to view Winter Ice Storm - 2004 photos.

The wintry mix was expected to taper off Monday night, but temperatures were not expected to climb above freezing overnight. Roads were expected to remain slippery this morning, and state Highway Patrol officials were advising drivers to stay home until warmer temperatures today started to melt the ice.

"Stay off the roads," said Ginny Sloan, Chester County's 911 director.

Sidewalks and other outdoor surfaces were slick, too. Pied-mont Medical Center officials said about seven people visited their emergency room with weather-related injuries -- including some broken bones -- mostly from falls.

The forecast calls for slightly warmer temperatures and possible sunshine today, said Jonathan Lamb, a meteorologist with the NWS. Highs will be in the upper 30s with partly cloudy skies throughout the day, Lamb added.

On Jan. 9, the area saw the year's first snowfall, but that storm lasted only 20 minutes. Schools and businesses continued to operate on normal schedules, while the roads were damp but not treacherous.

That was not the case this time around. County and city offices and schools were closed, court hearings and government meetings were canceled and area police aided dozens of people stranded on the roads, mainly in Chester and Lancaster counties.

Officials were trying to determine Monday afternoon what impact the weather would have today on closings, cancellations and delayed openings. York County offices will open at noon today.

S.C. Department of Trans-portation crews have worked around the clock since the storm hit Sunday morning to help de-ice roads, said Reuben Guy, resident maintenance engineer in York County. Sunday and Monday, 17 trucks with spreaders placed more than 2,000 tons of salt on the county's roadways, Guy said, adding that each shift has 25 to 30 people.

"Interstate 77 is a high priority, and the busiest streets are second. Then, we try to branch off and work according to the traffic on other roads," Guy said. "We got everybody we can out there and plan on working through the night."

Guy noted that their work is easier when motorists stay off the roads.

"When we get out there and put de-icing agents on the roads, it cuts the ice down fairly quickly," Guy said. "But when cars drive over it, the ice becomes packed like an ice cube and the material has to work even harder to break it down. So if you don't have to go out, stay in."

Guy's advice is one local authorities wish more people had taken before they rode out into the storm and its aftermath. From 5 p.m. Sunday to noon Monday, the state Highway Patrol responded to more than 1,600 accidents statewide that were weather related, said Lance Cpl. Bryan McDougald. Six people have died on the highways because of accidents caused by icy conditions, but no deaths have been reported in York, Chester or Lancaster counties, McDougald said.

One problem area was S.C. 9 in Lancaster and Chester, according to the patrol's traffic information network. Roughly 200 collisions were reported in the district that includes York, Chester, Lan-caster and four other counties.

Chester County and Great Falls officials assisted the highway patrol with many of those calls, officials say. Great Falls Police Chief Mike Revels said none of those accidents happened in town. But Sloan said residents in the area were not as lucky.

"We've had no reports of major motor vehicle accidents, but we've had calls from people who are in ditches and on the side of the road," Sloan said.

York County Emergency Management Director Cotton Howell said while things were running pretty smoothly in the area, his office was keeping a close eye on the second front of the storm. Ice was expected to cling to trees and utility lines, causing possible power outages late Monday night and today.

"There have been very few problems. So far, it seems like most people understood the danger of being out on the roads," Howell said. "I think once many people saw that they were having a problem even walking around outside, they realized it wasn't a good idea to be in the car either."

Contact Erica Pippins at 329-4072 or epippins@heraldonline.com. Herald staff writer Denyse Clark and Herald business editor Caroline Brustad contributed to this report.