HENDERSON â A predicted ice storm seemed less serious on Thursday than initially feared, though officials worried that it still might cause serious problems as afternoon turned to evening. As of about 4 p.m. the ice had caused only scattered power outages in the Tri-County region, mostly in one cluster east of Henderson and others northwest of Oxford in the U.S. 15 and N.C. 96 corridor. But as of the mid-afternoon on Thursday, âthings are more than manageable,â said Vance County Emergency Operations Director Brian Short. The National Weather Serviceâs winter-storm warning for the region had said the passing storm could bring up to half an inch of icefall, enough to cause widespread damage and power outages.