Snow cover in the U.S. 1-18-18 - National Weather Service
By Rich McKay
ATLANTA (Reuters) – Commuters in the U.S. South faced frigid temperatures and dangerously slick roads on Thursday after a winter storm, responsible for at least eight deaths, thrashed the region with heavy snow and winds that snapped power lines.
Schools in New Orleans, Charlotte and Atlanta and across the region canceled classes on Thursday as winter weather advisories from the National Weather Service (NWS) remained in effect from eastern Texas to Florida and north into southeast Virginia.
“Motorists are urged to use extreme caution, or avoid travel if possible,” the NWS said in an advisory, warning that freezing temperatures would keep roads icy.
Wind chill advisories were in effect as temperatures will feel like they have fallen below zero Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius) in parts of the Carolinas, Alabama and Virginia.
More than 14,000 households and businesses in North Carolina and Louisiana and in various parts of the South were without power early on Thursday, utility companies said online.
The governors of Georgia, North Carolina and Louisiana declared states of emergency because of severe conditions that made traveling treacherous.
“We cannot stress it enough for everyone to stay off the roads unless you have no choice,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said in a statement, adding the storm had caused 1,600 traffic accidents.
More than 9 inches (23 cm) of snow have fallen in Durham, North Carolina since Monday, with 7 inches (18 cm) or more measured at various locations across southern Virginia, the NWS said.
The storm has caused at least eight deaths.
In Austin, Texas, a vehicle plunged more than 30 feet (9 meters) off a frozen overpass on Tuesday, killing a man in his 40s, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Service said on its Twitter feed.
An 82-year-old woman who suffered from dementia was found dead on Wednesday behind her Houston-area home, likely due to exposure to cold, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said. Another woman died from cold exposure in Memphis, police said on Twitter.
In Georgia, two people were fatally struck by a car that slid on an ice patch near Macon, local media reports said.
A man was killed when he was knocked off an elevated portion of Interstate 10 in New Orleans and an 8-month-old baby died in a car crash in suburban New Orleans, local news reports said.
A woman died in West Virginia in a car crash, local reports said.
(Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Edmund Blair and Bernadette Baum)
Blessings to the Bakker Minisrties,
Love you guys and watch in Australia all the time. America be warned if you don’t start treating your president with respect if you don’t need the signs worse is coming very quickly. You have seen all the events unfold since our God Yeweh has put president Trump in power. I was called to pray for him as soon as I knew he was running. I knew it was Gods will or I would not have to have done that. It burned in me like a mighty fire. I rejoiced with my lord as we saw the miracle happen. Great detestation has come upon the USA not just because of sin and a Luke warm Christian Faith and the money Gospel. It is because you are not standing by the president. He is attacked every moment of everyday for silly things…shame America. He has already proven what a great job he has done. What a slap in the face to their God….once again.he church can’t sit back and just talk about it like they have done for many generations. The church never learns, when will they stand up for God and get out there and speak up. The holocaust has thought the church nothing. The lord is coming soon and he will say to many depart from me I never knew you. This is why he will as people love what Christianity can bring them….as long as it costs them nothing in there spoilt lives. Shame on America and shame on the church. We are suppose to have a voice for the lord……but I can’t hear it. We are responsible for the fall of morality…we have not done our job.
Love you Pastor Baker and team.
Lisa & Michelle Firmstone