Powerful wintry storm grounds flights, cuts power
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A huge storm brought snow, sleet and freezing rain across a wide swath of the South on Sunday — causing dangerously icy roads, grounding more than 1,000 flights and cutting power to hundreds of thousands of people.
Police in North Carolina and Virginia responded to hundreds of snow-related traffic accidents, as cars, trucks and tractor-trailers all struggled with the snow and ice.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper 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.
“Stay put if you can,” Cooper said. “Wrap a few presents, decorate the tree, watch some football.”
Five members of a dive team searched the Neuse River in Kinston for a missing truck driver Sunday after a tractortrailer ran off a road and into the river, WRAL-TV reported. Police just outside of Charlotte said a driver died when a tree fell on a moving vehicle.
Governors and local officials in several states declared emergencies ahead of the storm, which hit portions of North Carolina and Virginia hardest.
Virginia State Police said Interstate 81 in far southwest Virginia was particularly dangerous, with snow coming down faster Sunday afternoon than crews could clear it. Police said several tractor-trailers slid off the highway.
Officials warned residents to prepare emergency kits and stay off roads in impacted areas. Several schools districts in North Carolina and Virginia announced closures for Monday.
“Virginians should take all necessary precautions to ensure they are prepared for winter weather storm impacts,” said Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.
The National Weather Service said a “prolonged period of snow” began late Saturday and would last until Monday in the region, with the heaviest snow expected in northwest North Carolina and southern Virginia. Some areas of North Carolina and Virginia recorded more than a foot of snow.
More than 300,000 power failures were reported across the region with the majority of those — about 240,000 — in North Carolina, according to poweroutage.us. Parts of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia also had blackouts.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the sixth-busiest airport in the country, said American Airlines reduced its operations, with more than 1,000 flights canceled Sunday. American Airlines also issued a travel alert for nine airports throughout the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia.