A massive storm system that started in the Deep South is moving into the mid-Atlantic, the Northeast and New England. More than a quarter of a million people from Louisiana to Georgia are without electricity and there has been one weather-related death so far. Almost 2,000 airline flights were cancelled Friday due to the weather.
The pre-winter storm made its way through Atlanta during the busy Friday evening commute and some parts of Alabama saw a record 10 inches of snowfall, reports CBS News’ Mark Strassmann.
Near whiteout conditions fell in Mississippi and highway signs warned drivers to go slow, with mixed results. Emergency personnel in Baton Rouge fielded calls into the night.
“Most folks in south Louisiana aren’t used to driving on ice. I don’t think that anyone could ever do it very well so it could turn into a bad situation,” said Clay Rives with of the Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
In Texas, just four months after getting battered by Hurricane Harvey, snow covered swaths of the state from Houston, which got three-and-a-half inches, to just outside Corpus Christi, where the snow covered debris still left over from Harvey.
The storm did add some ambience to the holiday decorations in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
At Atlanta’s airport, Delta cancelled almost 1,000 flights Friday and just under 300 on Saturday. As people scrambled to re-book, a line of stranded travelers at the Delta counter reportedly stretched a quarter of a mile long.
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