Icy Cold Creates Problems Across the South

Article

Snow and sleet pounded a large swath of the U.S. East Coast on Saturday, coating roads with ice and causing hundreds of crashes. Thousands of people lost power and forecasters warned of blizzard-like conditions from Virginia to parts of the Northeast.

Police investigated several fatal crashes as potentially storm-related, but some of the South’s biggest cities – Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh – appeared to avoid the worst of the storm. Authorities praised residents for learning the lessons of past storms that resulted in icy gridlock, where thousands of people were stranded along the interstates. But officials warned that bitter cold would keep roads treacherous well after the snow and sleet stopped.

“If I tell you anything it would be stay home,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said. “Do not go out and drive on the roads unless you absolutely have to.”

The storm lingered in northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, where blizzard conditions were reported. The weather was believed to be responsible for a 20-vehicle pileup on a Connecticut highway, although initial reports indicated there were no serious injuries.

A National Weather Service map showed the snowfall seemed to follow the Interstate 85 corridor through the state, with locations along and north of the highway receiving snow, and areas to the south getting rain and sleet.

Burlington and Roxboro in central North Carolina received 8 inches or more of snow. Preliminary figures from the National Weather Service in Greer, South Carolina, showed snowfall totals reached up to 10 inches in at least seven locations, including Greensboro and High Point, Lewisville in Forsyth County, and Lenoir and Rhodhiss in Caldwell County.

Several inches fell in southeast Virginia, where a blizzard warning was issued for the cities along the coast.

North Carolina reported more than 250 crashes. Virginia State Police said they responded to 325 crashes and 322 disabled vehicles across the state between midnight and noon on Saturday. Hundreds of crashes were reported in Tennessee starting Friday. Parts of three interstates in Mississippi turned into parking lot as motorists were stuck when the roads became too icy to negotiate. Hundreds of flights were canceled, from Atlanta to airports farther north.

At least two deaths are being blamed on the weather. In Kentucky, a man was killed when his pickup truck went off a snow-slickened Kentucky road Thursday. In Georgia, a 20-year-old Georgia State University student was killed after his SUV crashed on Interstate 75 in Monroe County. Motorist deaths in North Carolina and Maryland as the storm blew in were being investigated to see if they were caused by the weather.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted police as saying authorities were handling some vehicle crashes on Interstate 75 northwest of Atlanta on Friday night. No injuries were reported.

In parts of Alabama, road conditions quickly deteriorated under a thin blanket of snow and sleet. Police said many roads were deemed impassable in Anniston, Oxford and other areas of the state. State troopers say they were working several weather-related crashes and warned that ice-covered bridges were hazardous in the Birmingham area.

The winter mess was blamed for hundreds of fender benders and other non-injury crashes, some involving school buses, on Nashville roads coated by 1 to 2 inches of snow Friday morning. Nashville’s city school district initially ordered classes to start on schedule but had to hastily call early dismissals as police reports of non-injury crashes multiplied. All students safely made it home.

“We apologize,” Nashville Schools Chief Operating Officer Chris Henson said. “We realize that it’s been very frustrating for everyone.”

North Carolina utilities reported Sunday that about 6,000 customers were without power. Duke Energy reported that about 5,300 customers are without power in the state with the majority of those outages in Franklin and Gaston counties. Dominion reported about 550 customers without power in its coverage area in eastern North Carolina.

The unpredictable storm left some areas with much different outcomes than neighboring counties. Unofficial totals from the National Weather Service showed that much of Raleigh and Charlotte had 2 inches or less of precipitation – much of it sleet – while areas to the north of both cities got several inches of snow.

Foreman reported from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Associated Press writers Jonathan Drew in Durham, North Carolina; Jack Jones in Columbia, South Carolina; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; Jeff Amy in Jackson, Mississippi; and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee.