Deadly Winter Storm Leon Paralyzes the South: State-by-State Impacts Alabama Most schools from Mobile to Birmingham will be closed Thursday. Montgomery County Public Schools have delayed classes. A spokesman for the state Department of Education says about 11,000 students spent Tuesday night at Alabama public schools. Most of those were in the Birmingham area. Spokesman Michael Sibley says about 1,600 students remained at schools Wednesday afternoon, and some were going to spend a second night at school. At least five people died in weather-related accidents across the state; Another 23 were injured during the storm. The Associated Press says the deaths were in Wetumpka, Marion and Cottondale. The department of transportation is towing abandoned cars off Interstate 20 to clear it, and car owners can call 205-382-5820 for information about their vehicles. Florida Schools will be closed again Thursday in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties. People in the Panhandle remained indoors and off the roads as freezing temperatures caused a layer of ice and dusting of snow to linger. Emergency officials said numerous bridges in the region could remain closed through Thursday morning. Temperatures were expected to climb to about 35 degrees but overcast skies would prevent much melting. Sporadic power outages were reported throughout the area because of iced power lines. The Pensacola International Airport is closed until 9 a.m. Thursday. Passengers should check flypenscola for the latest. Georgia A state of emergency continues Wednesday. The city of Atlanta is under a Civil Emergency. State government is closed through Thursday to allow crews to treat the roads and respond to emergencies. The governor asked businesses to follow suit and keep employees off the roads. Just before 2 p.m. local time Wednesday, busses arrived at Atlanta Public schools to take kids who were stuck at school overnight back to their homes. State transportation crews were continuing to treat roads and bring gas to stranded drivers. State troopers blame the storm for one death. Atlanta Public Schools, as well as schools in surrounding counties, canceled class for both Wednesday and Thursday. At least one death in Coweta County has been blamed on the winter storm. A teenager was killed in Henry County when his vehicle lost control on the roads according to the NWS. Louisiana State offices in about two dozen parishes will close again Thursday. One lane of the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway opened for 90 minutes Wednesday evening to help relieve some traffic, but it has been closed again. Roads, bridges and overpasses are still icy, and NOLA has details on which are open. The Plaquemines Parish School Board says its schools will reopen Thursday while Assumption Parish schools officials say the parishs public schools will remain closed. Some airlines started air traffic in and out of New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport Wednesday night, but passengers are urged to check with their airline before heading to the airport. Mississippi Many schools were closed Wednesday because roads were too dangerous to travel. The Arctic air behind the snow is being blamed for a fire that killed four people in Itawamba County. The sheriff said a faulty gas space heater in the living room sparked the blaze Tuesday night. Treacherous conditions stretched mainly from the Interstate 20 corridor to south Mississippi. The state department of transportation originally wanted to open the Wilkes Draw Bridge, Fort Bayou Draw Bridge and the Bay St. Louis Bridge at 9 a.m. Wednesday, but MDOT will likely keep them closed until Thursday because of ice, according to sunherald. WAPT reports some cars that were abandoned on I-59 near Hattiesburg were burglarized. North Carolina Schools around Raleigh and Charlotte will close again Thursday, while some colleges are delaying the start of classes. A combination of ice and strong winds knocked out power for residents of Ocracoke Island twice within a 24-hour period Wednesday. The state highway patrol said the weather was a factor in separate traffic accidents in Surry County that killed two people. A Hickory woman who is nine months pregnant was rescued after slid off the road on the way to a doctors appointment, according to WSOC-TV in Charlotte. The mother and the unborn child are alright. South Carolina Schools in and around Charleston will close again Thursday because roads are expected to freeze again overnight as temperatures drop. A number of bridges in the Charleston area shut down because of the storm. State troopers responded to about 3,200 weather-related problems since Tuesday. (MORE: How A Young Mother and Her Baby Girl Were Rescued) Tennessee Schools, businesses and government offices in east Tennessee announced theyll be closed through Thursday, according to knoxnews. Roads in the region are still rough, so travel is discouraged. The Chattanooga Times Free Press is reporting that the Hamilton County Emergency Management Agency activated its Emergency Operations Center to respond to all the accidents Virginia Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach all declared states of emergency. School districts canceled classes, government offices shut down for the day and tens of thousands of sailors at the regions Navy bases were told to stay away unless theyre considered mission essential personnel. The regions public transportation system was also closed for the day. At the Port of Virginia, all state-controlled terminals in Hampton Roads were closed until Thursday. VDOT said interstate and primary roads were passable by midday and they had moved on to treating secondary roads.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 01:33:27 +0000
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