South storm: Fender benders, food runs, disrupted inaugural

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted police as saying authorities were handling some vehicle crashes on Interstate 75 northwest of Atlanta on Friday night. No injuries were reported.

In parts of Alabama, road conditions quickly deteriorated under a thin blanket of snow and sleet. Police said many roads were deemed impassable in Anniston, Oxford and other areas of the state. State troopers say they were working several weather-related crashes and warned that ice-covered bridges were hazardous in the Birmingham area.

The winter mess was blamed for hundreds of fender benders and other non-injury crashes, some involving school buses, on Nashville roads coated by 1 to 2 inches of snow Friday morning. Nashville’s city school district initially ordered classes to start on schedule but had to hastily call early dismissals as police reports of non-injury crashes multiplied. All students safely made it home.

“We apologize,” Nashville Schools Chief Operating Officer Chris Henson said. “We realize that it’s been very frustrating for everyone.”

In North Carolina, the storm threat sent new Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper scrambling to his Executive Mansion ballroom for an abridged swearing-in ceremony Friday. A larger outdoor ceremony Saturday organized for thousands had to be scrapped, along with a parade.

“Consider yourselves the chosen few,” Cooper jokingly told well-wishers who made it to his 20-minute oath-taking.

Lauren Rathbone, manager of a Public Hardware store in Durham, North Carolina, estimated the store sold nearly 7 tons of ice melt in 50- and 10-pound bags, along with hundreds of sleds and shovels. Describing the mood of customers, she said all was good til items began selling out: “Up until about 10 o’clock: Happy, excited, and ‘at least I got my stuff.’ After 10 o’clock: ‘Why the hell ain’t you got anything?’”

In Atlanta, where memories of a catastrophic snow and ice storm in 2014 are still fresh, city leaders organized early departures from schools, companies and other places. The earlier storm brought traffic to a standstill on metro Atlanta freeways, and office workers were forced to spend the night in their cars in gridlock.

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport, Delta Air Lines on Friday announced that 350 flights had been cancelled ahead of the storm.

Even before the storm hit, shoppers were out in force stocking up on basic foods. But by the time Justin Fetty, 31, of Hampton, Virginia, made it to a Food Lion in that state, every brand of bread that he was familiar with was gone.

“You had to buy like weird stuff,” he said, at a loss describe exactly what kind of bread he purchased. “But my daughter needs her PB&Js.”

The storm was blamed for one death Thursday in Kentucky when a motorist drove off a curve on a snow-slickened road.

Winter weather was also slamming parts of the West during the week, prompting some dangerous conditions but also drawing skiers to the slopes. The storm dumped 6 feet of snow alone atop the Sierra Nevada, raising fears of a flood threat

In Colorado, heavy snow and strong winds raised the danger of avalanches. Snow in Boise, Idaho, reached 15 inches Thursday, breaking the previous snow-depth record of 13 inches from mid-1980s.

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Foreman reported from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Associated Press writers Jonathan Drew in Durham, North Carolina; Jack Jones in Columbia, South Carolina; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; Jeff Amy in Jackson, Mississippi; and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, contributed to this report.

Jeff Martin And Tom Foreman Jr., The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

South storm: Fender benders, food runs, disrupted inaugural

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