DURHAM, North Carolina/ WARSAW — A winter storm that left a glaze of ice and snow across portions of the US South and is being blamed for at least three deaths has turned its attention to New England, where travel conditions have already become treacherous and a chain-reaction accident on a Connecticut road involved nearly two dozen cars.
Before the storm churned north along the Atlantic coast, it left icy conditions in Alabama and Mississippi, where a former governor was hospitalized after he slipped and fell on his icy driveway. At least seven locations in North Carolina reported 10 inches of snow as the storm entered the state on Saturday, and blizzard conditions occurred in southeast Virginia.
The three deaths related to the storm occurred in Virginia, Georgia and Kentucky, and officials said they were the result of cars traveling on roads made slick by ice. Other traffic deaths are being investigated to determine if weather played a factor.
North Carolina power outages peaked around 25,000, according to Gov. Roy Cooper, but power company figures indicate the number had dropped to several thousand by late Saturday.
Forecasters in New England were expecting up to a foot of snow in Boston, but Cape Cod and other parts of the south Massachusetts coast were in line for up to 2 feet of wind-driven snow and police implored residents to stay home and off the roads.
Meanwhile, a cold wave across Europe has left at least 23 dead in the past two days, including several migrants and homeless people, authorities said Saturday, with the frigid temperatures expected to continue through the weekend.
Ten of the latest victims of the cold perished in Poland where temperatures were as low as minus 14 degrees Celsius (seven degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday. — Agencies
