Storm dumps snow, freezing rain on wide swath of South

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A massive storm brought snow, sleet, and freezing rain across a wide swath of the South on Sunday — causing dangerously icy roads, immobilizing snowfalls and power losses to hundreds of thousands of people.

Accidents on snow-covered interstates caused major delays, hundreds of flights were canceled and drivers in North Carolina and Virginia got stuck in snow or lost control on icy patches. Meanwhile, kids and the young at heart took advantage of the early winter snow with snowball fights, sledding and snowmen.

Police in North Carolina and Virginia said they’d responded to hundreds of snow-related traffic accidents as of Sunday afternoon, as cars, trucks and tractor-trailers struggled with the snow and ice.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper strongly urged residents to stay off the roads Sunday, asking drivers not to put lives of first responders needlessly at risk. Cooper said emergency crews, including the National Guard, worked overnight to clear traffic accidents on major roadways.

A dive team searched the Neuse River in Kinston, N.C., for a missing truck driver Sunday after a tractor-trailer ran off a road and into the river.

Governors and local officials in several states declared emergencies ahead of the storm crossing several Southern states, which hit portions of North Carolina and Virginia particularly hard.

The National Weather Service said a “prolonged period of snow” began late Saturday and would last until Monday in the region.

More than 300,000 power outages were reported across the region. Parts of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia also saw outages.

CHUCK LIDDY/THE NEWS & OBSERVER A Duke Energy lineman uses a bucket truck Sunday to approach a transformer in Durham, N.C. Power is out in many areas after a late fall snowstorm hit the state.