Winter Storm Diego Leaves More than 350,000 Without Power Across Southeast Ron Brackett

Winter Storm Diego Leaves More than 350,000 Without Power Across Southeast

 https://www.wunderground.com/news/news/news/2018-12-09-diego-snow-impacts-carolinas-georgia-texas

 

Wide swaths of the Carolinas and parts of Georgia woke up to power outages Sunday morning as Winter Storm Diego continued to dump snow and ice across the Southeast.
As of 11:45 a.m., nearly 205,000 customers had no electricity in North Carolina, according to poweroutage.us. Almost 90,000 were cut off in South Carolina, 23,000 in northeast Georgia, and more than 30,000 in Tennessee. About 10,000 customers lost power in Virginia as the storm continued to move to the northeast.
Hundreds of Sunday morning church services were canceled because of the ice and snow, and many districts announced schools would be closed on Monday.
More than 1,400 flights were canceled on Sunday, according to flightaware.com. Most of those were at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Gov. Roy Cooper earlier had warned residents that now is "the time to hunker down" and prepare for the worst of Winter Storm Diego, which dumped more than 10 inches of snow on Texas Saturday.
“This is a snowstorm, not a snow fall. It’s serious,” Gov. Cooper said Saturday during a press conference. “In the Piedmont to western parts of our state, we’re preparing for days of impact, not hours.”
Cooper's warning comes a day after he declared a state of emergency for all of North Carolina's 100 counties. States of emergency have also been declared in Virginia and Oklahoma.

North Carolina

Interstate 26 was closed overnight in both directions at the steep Saluda Grade after several semitractor trailers got stuck in the roadway, North Carolina's Department of Transportation said. The interstate reopened about 5:30 a.m.
At a news conference Sunday, Gov. Cooper said part of U.S. 70 was closed after a semitrailer truck ran off the road and into the Neuse River near Kinston.
Many other state and county roads were iced or snowed over in much of North Carolina.
Cooper said 11 shelters had been opened, most of them in the western part of the state.
Col. Glenn M. McNeill, commander of the State Highway Patrol, said troopers had responded to 509 collisions and 1,100 service calls since midnight Saturday.
Department of Transportation worked to keep roadways plowed and salted or sanded while other crews focused on removing fallen trees.

Tennessee

Freezing rain led to ice accumulating on bridges and overpasses near Clarksville, Tennessee, overnight.

South Carolina

Ice was the problem in the Upstate of South Carolina on Sunday morning.
Crews in Spartanburg County were on the road before the sun rose to begin repairing hundreds of downed power lines, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal reported.
Doug Bryson, the county emergency management coordinator, “It’s been nonstop for several hours now.”
Dozens of cars were stranded along roadways, the Highway Patrol said.

Virginia

Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency Saturday and urged residents to prepare for the possibility of a wintry mix of snow, sleet, ice and rain over parts of western, central and northern Virginia.
“Virginians should take all necessary precautions to ensure they are prepared for winter weather storm impacts,” said Northam. “I am declaring a state of emergency to ensure localities and communities have appropriate assistance and to coordinate state response to possible snow and ice accumulations, transportation issues, and potential power outages.”
Northam noted that he has placed state agencies, including the Virginia Departments of Transportation and Emergency Management, and State