DURHAM, N.C. – Snowed-in Southerners made the best of a day without work or school Monday while officials warned that roads remained treacherous even as the worst of a wintry storm departed.
Snow, sleet and freezing rain tapered off across states from Georgia to West Virginia that were recovering from outages, canceled flights and numerous car wrecks. But officials cautioned that Tuesday’s commute could be treacherous as plunging temperatures turn melted snow into ice on roads. The storm was blamed for at least three deaths in North Carolina.
And an overturned truck full of pigs added to traffic delays in western North Carolina.
Scores of schools canceled class Monday, and many businesses and government offices – including Virginia’s executive-branch agencies in Richmond – were closed.
Josie, an English retriever, plays in the snow as her owners, Dawn and Mark Lundblad, walk a snow-covered Sandy Cove Drive on Sunday in Morganton, N.C. Over a foot of snow fell in the area, creating a winter wonderland.
For those staying close to home, the storm provided a chance to sled, drink hot chocolate with friends or simply take in a wintry landscape in places that don’t often see so much of the white stuff.
In North Carolina’s Durham County, where a foot fell in places Sunday, kids reveled in a day off from school as a second dusting of snow and sleet fell Monday morning. Children threw snowballs or built snowmen, and a young girl in a pink jacket threw her hands up and yelled “Merry Christmas!” at a passer-by along a residential sidewalk.
A few cars passed on the road, but several people decided it was safer to get where they were going by foot.
Andrew Dedman, 16, was walking about a mile through a flurry to visit a friend on their day off from high school.
“We’re just going to hang out, sit around, drink hot chocolate,” he said.
Gavin Keller, left, and Hunter Matthews clear snow from the walkway of a home in Richmond, Virginia, on Monday. A winter storm dumped immobilizing snow, sleet or freezing rain across several southern states, leaving dangerously icy roads and hundreds of thousands of people without electricity.
Others ventured Monday into ankle-deep snowdrifts to walk dogs. Ron Gordon, 75, donned boots and a hooded winter jacket to take out his dog, Easy.
“She seems to like it,” he said, holding a walking stick for extra traction. “She enjoys it more than I do.”
The semi-retired photographer said he could work inside for the rest of the day, and he can cook on the gas stove even if the house loses power again, as it did for several hours Sunday. He said he moved to Durham from Chicago several years ago and was surprised to see this much snow: “I didn’t expect this.”
The North Carolina Department of Transportation said a livestock truck carrying pigs overturned on Interstate 40 westbound near the Tennessee line. The westbound lanes were closed temporarily Monday so the pigs could be corralled, but at least one lane was reopened by midafternoon.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday that the worst of the storm had passed, but residents – particularly motorists – should keep watch for dangerous conditions. Melting snow and ice could result in slick road conditions Tuesday morning as temperatures fall and moisture refreezes, Cooper said at a news conference. The Highway Patrol already had responded to more than 670 collisions and nearly 1,600 calls for services since the storm began.
Snowfall totals topped 20 inches in some areas of the western part of the state, according to the National Weather Service.
A truck driver died Sunday after suffering what appeared to be a heart attack from shoveling out his rig that got stuck at the height of the storm along Interstate 77 in the central part of the state, Yadkin County Emergency Services Director Keith Vestal said.
The state emergency operations center also said one man died Sunday when a tree fell on him in Mecklenburg County, while an ailing woman died in Haywood County when her oxygen was cut off due to power outages.
Governors and local officials declared emergencies ahead of the storm crossing several Southern states, which hit portions of North Carolina and Virginia particularly hard.
Flight cancellations and delays continued Monday at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the sixth busiest airport in the country. The airport had nearly 400 cancellations, about one-fourth of its scheduled flights.
More than 244,000 power outages were reported across the region Monday morning, with North Carolina bearing the brunt of it, according to poweroutage.us. South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee also had outages reported Monday.
Associated Press writers Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
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