Large storm causes chaos across the Southern U.S.

ATLANTA — A winter storm stalking the South disrupted a new governor’s inaugural ceremonies in North Carolina, triggered hundreds of fender benders in Tennessee and led shoppers to empty out shelves of bread and milk.

Road workers manning 12-hour shifts rushed to pre-treat roads as states of emergency were declared in Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas as the storm closed in amid threats of snow, sleet, freezing rain and gusting winds.

Winter storm warnings were issued for parts of Alabama and Georgia, including Atlanta, and into the Carolinas and part of Virginia. Schools canceled classes in several states. Officials warned that their Southern cities, with far fewer snowplows than up north, could grind to a halt with even a thin coat of ice or snow.

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 early Friday. Nashville’s city school district ordered classes to start as scheduled, but had to hastily call early dismissals as police reports of non-injury crashes multiplied. All students were later transported safely home.

“We apologize,” Nashville Schools Chief Operating Officer Chris Henson said. “We realize that it’s been very frustrating for everyone. And the timing was very unfortunate, as far as the weather change.”

In North Carolina, the storm threat sent incoming Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and his invitees scrambling to the Executive Mansion ballroom for an abridged swearing-in ceremony Friday. A larger outdoor ceremony Saturday organized for thousands had to be scrapped.

“Consider yourselves the chosen few,” Cooper jokingly told family, friends and well-wishers after his 20-minute oath-taking.

Lauren Rathbone, manager of a Public Hardware store in Durham, North Carolina, estimated the store sold nearly 7 tons of ice melt in 50- and 10-pound bags, along with hundreds of sleds and shovels. Describing the mood of customers, she said: “Up until about 10 o’clock: Happy, excited, and ‘at least I got my stuff.’ After 10 o’clock: ‘Why the hell ain’t you got anything?”’

In Atlanta, where memories of a catastrophic snow and ice storm in 2014 are still fresh, city leaders pleaded with motorists not to venture out onto slick highways. The earlier storm brought traffic to a standstill on metro Atlanta freeways, and office workers were forced to spend the night in their cars in gridlock. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed organized early dismissals Friday to avoid a repeat of the 2014 traffic jam.