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National Guard called in as snow, ice paralyze much of Southeast

Thousands of flights were canceled or delayed from Texas to the Carolinas in recent days.
Credit: Sean Rayford
A motorist checks his phone after sliding off the road in the snow on December 9, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Nearly 250,000 energy customers are without power because of the winter storm. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

More than 300,000 homes and businesses remained without power Monday across the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee as a winter storm that spent the last week creating chaos across much of the nation slowly creeped out to sea.

At least one death was reported after some areas were deluged with up to two feet of heavy, wet snow or a wintry mix of snow and ice that snapped tree limbs and downed power lines across the region.

Thousands of flights were canceled or delayed from Texas to the Carolinas in recent days, and almost 400 were canceled Monday out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport alone. The North Carolina National Guard was helping dig out some areas in the state's western mountains.

"Things are winding down," AccuWeather meteorologist Courtney Travis said Monday. "But some schools are closed, some roads are closed. The impact is still strong."

Whitetop, Virginia, near the North Carolina border, was hit with 24 inches of snow, Travis said. Swansonville, 150 miles to the east, had 20 inches. In North Carolina, the tiny mountain town of Piney Creek had 20.5 inches.

Bigger cities also were hit hard. In Virginia, Roanoke had 15 inches. Blacksburg got 13 inches, forcing a late opening for Virginia Tech. The state capital of Richmond was buried under 10 inches, forcing closure of state offices.

The Virginia Department of Transportation warned that accidents were taking place across much of the state.

"Crews around much of the commonwealth remain fully engaged around the clock to treat and plow snow-covered roads," VDOT reported. "Please avoid unnecessary travel as icy conditions persist. If you must travel, use extra caution, be alert and take it slow."

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper warned that utility companies projected widespread power outages that could last for days in some areas. Almost 150,000 power customers were out early Monday.

State Highway Patrol officers had responded to 500 crashes by late Sunday, Cooper said. Police in Matthews, N.C., 12 miles southeast of Charlotte, reported that a driver was killed when a tree fell on his vehicle.

The worst of the storm roared through the mountains in the western part of the state, where the National Guard was on the scene.

"Our soldiers are and will continue to assist NC Emergency Management, other state agencies, and the citizens in the western regions as long as we are needed," the guard said in a statement.

The storm rolled out of Southern California early last week after slamming the region with heavy rains that triggered mudslides on wildfire-scarred hillsides. It continued east, leaving a swath of power outages, delayed and canceled flights and dangerous road conditions in its wake.

In Texas, Lubbock was blasted with more than 10 inches of snow. Hundreds of miles to the southeast, the storm brought more than 6 inches of rain to areas around Houston. College Station, home to Texas A&M University, reported 4 inches of rain, shattering a record set in 1931, the National Weather Service said.

Some areas in Tennessee and Kentucky saw a quarter inch of ice, making roads impassable. Then the storm rolled into the Carolinas and Virginia as a snowmaker.

"It was a long-lasting, still-going storm," Travis said. "We are still seeing some lingering precipitation, but by this evening the storm will finally be pulling away."

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