North Carolina: 2 dead, thousands without electricity after historic snowstorm



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North Carolina was covered too early with snow: more than one foot in several areas – and the winter had just arrived.

A multi-year snowfall swept parts of the state in just over a day. , causing hundreds of crashes, thousands of power cuts and at least three confirmed deaths, officials said Monday. Total double-digit snowfall, some as much as two feet, fell in many cities this weekend, well above what the state normally sees at this time of year. 39; year.

In one county, five families were stranded while 20 inches of snow buried the area.

Tuesday, the storm has stopped, but the state – which is still recovering from the damage caused by Hurricane Florence in summer – is not out of the woods yet. A deadly mix of ice and rain will make the roads treacherous and many of them could turn into ice rinks, Governor Roy Cooper said at a press conference.

"Most of North Carolina has gone through most of the storm, but we have to stay alert … Snow and ice and danger may not go away as fast as they can. have arrived, "Cooper (D) said Monday.


The manager of a check cashing store at Gate City Boulevard removes snow from the Greensboro parking lot. NC, December 9th. (H. Scott Hoffmann / News & Record / AP)

"Even those parts of our state that have not seen flakes can feel the effects of the storm today," he said. he declares. Coastal communities are under fire from flooding warnings and water is likely to dump a portion of Highway 12 that connects the Outer Banks barrier islands.

Cooper announced the state of emergency on Friday and the flood began Saturday.

Just after 4 pm On Saturday, a tree fell on a moving vehicle in the Charlotte suburb of Matthews. The vehicle crashed into a nearby church. The driver died while the passenger suffered minor injuries, the police said.

In Haywood County, in western North Carolina, a woman in a hospice died at home, Cooper said. No other details were available in the immediate future.

On Monday, a driver had a medical problem while he was trying to free his truck stuck on a highway, Cooper said. He was hospitalized and died later.

In the town of Kinston, in the east of the country, a truck drifted adrift and headed for a river. Divers found the truck cabin but the driver was not found, officials said.

In Wilkes County, five families – about 20 people, including children young – have been stuck at home. The families have been without electricity for three days and can not get out after their neighborhoods have been buried in more than 20 inches of snow, said Lt. Col. Matt Devivo of the North Carolina National Guard. A team of guards saved the families, who have since been taken to a shelter.

More than 600 collisions have been reported and 31,000 households in North Carolina are still without electricity by Tuesday afternoon, according to Duke Energy . ]. About 14,000 people are without electricity in South Carolina.

In North Carolina, snow in winter usually falls in January and February. One of the worst snowstorms ever recorded was Raleigh in January 2000.

The winter storm is also striking in other parts of the southeastern region, including South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Ontario, Alabama and Georgia.

For more information:

Forecasting of the DC region: Cold and calm for the first half of the week; softer and moist for the second half

Hurricane Florence

A country transformed by waters: North Carolina, before and after hurricane Florence

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