Southern snow, ice creates havoc

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Posted 10:18AM on Friday, January 4, 2002

RALEIGH, N.C. - A deep freeze and a second dose of snow turned the South into a deadly, slippery nightmare Thursday, practically paralyzing a region unaccustomed to icy winter weather. Hundreds of flights were canceled in Atlanta, and more than 4,000 stranded travelers spent the night at the nation's busiest airport. South Carolina's governor declared a state of emergency, called out the National Guard to help stranded motorists and told tens of thousands of state workers to take the rest of the week off. Cold weather that settled in behind the storm front sent people crowding into Florida shelters. At least 10 deaths were blamed on the storm, which began Wednesday with sleet and snow stretching from southern Louisiana into Virginia. An overnight freeze coated roads with ice and more snow fell Thursday. Nearly a foot was expected in parts of Georgia by Friday and more than a foot was forecast in North Carolina and Virginia as the storm moved up the East Coast. ``I've never seen it snow for a full day,'' said Luke Jarrett, 25, of Atlanta after building a snowman for the first time Thursday. ``It's so pretty. It covers up all the dirt. I'd like it stay as long as possible.'' The storm came as a shock to Southerners who were bragging about 70-degree temperatures just a couple of weeks ago. Daffodils, crocuses and cherry blossoms were tricked into believing spring had already arrived. ``What a change,'' said Susan Yeaman with the National Weather Service in Raleigh. ``The weather pattern changed about a week ago, and it doesn't show any signs of changing back.'' Royce Fuoco was using a plastic rake to shovel his driveway in Wake Forest, N.C., wishing he had listened to his mother-in-law in New York over the holidays when she offered him a shovel. ``It's been two years since we've gotten snow,'' he said. ``Why bother getting one now? I figured if all else fails I've got my trusty green leaf rake.'' South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, who called out 100 National Guardsmen on Wednesday, declared a state of emergency Thursday, and most of the 64,000 state employees were told to stay home until Monday. More than 2,400 accidents were reported in the Carolinas. Thousands of passengers were stuck at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport after the snow forced Delta and other airlines to cancel more than 500 flights. Some arriving planes waited two hours to unload their passengers and departing aircraft lined up to be de-iced. Only 20 flights were arriving and leaving Thursday morning instead of the normal 180. ``We would not have the same amount of equipment as you would find at O'Hare or LaGuardia where they can count every winter on getting hit with a large amount of snow,'' airport spokeswoman Lanii Thomas said. After waiting eight hours on the runway to take off for Florida, John Pickitt got off a Delta airliner Thursday and dragged his children to the line at the car rental counter. ``By the end, the lavatory by where we were sitting was getting pretty ripe,'' said Pickitt, who decided to drive the 12 hours to Fort Lauderdale. ``The Gameboy ran out of batteries, so that was a real emergency.'' Outside Atlanta, traffic into the city was backed up for more than 20 miles on Interstate 20 after two tractor-trailers spun out of control Thursday morning. The city's commuter rail system was slowed by ice on the tracks. In South Carolina, two women died when their cars skidded on ice and were struck by oncoming traffic. Three deaths in Mississippi, two in suburban Atlanta, two in North Carolina and one in Virginia also were blamed on slick roads. In a rare sight, light snow fell in the Florida Panhandle cities of Pensacola and Marianna. Wind chills in the teens caused a run on firewood, forced farmers to cover their crops and sent crowds into shelters in Jacksonville and Tallahassee. Freeze warnings were posted for northern Florida and the Alabama coast, and record cold was predicted in southern Florida. ``I've got on two shirts and a sweater,'' said 18-year-old Jerome Rider, who was rounding up shopping carts in a mall parking lot in Mobile, Ala. ``It's freezing and I try to stay inside as much as possible.'' Schools and business across the region were canceled, extending the holiday break. There was no rest for utility workers following power outages, including 48,000 in South Carolina and 19,000 in North Carolina. Martha Hess of Raleigh was not cursing the snow. While her prized greens and crocus bulbs sat under protective layers of mulch and straw, she sat in her kitchen eating soup made from leftover holiday turkey. ``It's not driving me insane, because I'm a former upstate New Yorker,'' she said. ``So it's in sync with my biological clock. Now I can get in the right hibernation pattern and be healthy.''