Southerners dig out of snow; crews work on outages

Raleigh, N.C. — Southeastern residents on Monday dug out of a rare March snowstorm that blanketed the region, closing schools, causing traffic accidents and knocking out electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes.

In North Carolina, where as much as a foot of snow fell, police and rescuers went car-by-car Monday to check on motorists stranded along Interstate 85 after a crash across the South Carolina border, patrol spokesman Capt. Everett Clendenin said Monday.

“We were stuck with 15 miles of stalled traffic,” Clendenin said. “Troopers and the Red Cross went to check vehicles to be sure people were OK.”

There were no serious problems before authorities were able to get traffic moving again.

Scott Davis, 47, of Raleigh, stopped at a gas station after a night of working outdoors at a soybean plant.

“It’s pretty weird,” Davis said as he chipped ice off his windshield. “It was pretty damp and pretty wet. I was glad to get into some dry clothes, that’s for sure.”

In South Carolina, the winter storm brought up to 10 inches of snow in some parts. Motorists were advised to stay off icy roads in northeastern counties, and Gov. Mark Sanford delayed the opening of state offices in 28 counties.

More than 120,000 customers were without power in Virginia and crews were working on restoring electricity to hospitals and water-treatment plants before turning to homes. A winter storm warning was in effect for much of the state and several inches of snow had already accumulated. A total of 6 to 9 inches was expected along and to the east of I-95 north of Fredericksburg.

Tennessee, which had nearly a foot of snow in some places, hadn’t seen that much snowfall since a storm brought between 16 and 22 inches to the region in March of 1968.

North Carolina utilities said more than 100,000 customers had lost power and schools were also closed or delayed in many counties there. Georgia had as many as 50,000 homes and businesses still without power.

The snow had mostly stopped in North Carolina by Monday morning.

“We have a little residual slurry action, but by and large most of it is gone,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Gail Hartfield. “It is unusual to have snow in March, especially the totals we’ve gotten.”