Storm prompts weather alerts for more than 100 million
Flood and flash flood watches cover around 16 million in the Southeast, including Atlanta and Raleigh, according to the National Weather Service. The watches extend from Georgia into the Carolinas into Friday morning.
There was good news; 6,000 megawatts were added to the Texas grid Wednesday, enough power for about 1.2 million customers, according to Gov. Greg Abbott.
Her bedroom flooded, thanks to a burst pipe, she told CNN.
Heavy rain associated with the storm is expected to drop 1-3 inches on the Carolinas and Georgia on Wednesday night into Friday, with some areas seeing higher amounts.
The rain will fall on already saturated ground that has picked up already 3-6 inches over the past week.
Bad weather has led to at least 30 deaths across the country, including four people who died in three incidents in Oregon due to carbon-monoxide poisoning over the weekend, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.
On Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service:
— 3 to 6 inches of snow could fall from Arkansas and the Mid-South to the central Appalachians. Some areas were predicted to get more and Hope, Arkansas, saw 11.5 inches as of 5 p.m. ET.
— Significant ice accumulations are forecast in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia.
Spending the night in a car for warmth
In Texas, many residents have scrambled for alternative heating with electricity out continuously or intermittently for days.
Water service also has been unreliable, so when she heard service was about to shut off again, “we filled up pitchers and tubs of water,” she told CNN. “I went to (a store on Tuesday) and there was no water left, so if we lose water, it’s all we got until who knows when.”
“We have a gas stove, so we’ve been able to warm up leftovers and cook what we have,” Orta said.
With many of the downtown sidewalks in Jackson, Mississippi covered with ice, a pedestrian walks on a street as cars pass him on Wednesday.
Power lines fall and water lines break
In Kentucky, parts of which was expected to receive several inches snow by Wednesday evening, already had more than 90,000 power outages, thanks in part to ice storms and snow earlier in the week.
In eastern Kentucky’s Montgomery County, James Mitchell’s house lost electricity twice this week.
Some eastern Kentucky residents still might not have electricity by week’s end, Gov. Andy Beshear said. That’s because crews have a lot of work to do to repair power lines damaged by the ice storm earlier this week, state emergency management official Michael Dossett said.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, more than 100 water main and service line breaks were reported Tuesday due to freezing conditions, according to the Waterline Break Board on the City of Tulsa’s website.
“Water line breaks in Tulsa are creating dangerous conditions,” Tulsa police tweeted with a photo of a parked patrol car that became stuck when a water line broke and the water froze around the vehicle’s wheels.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he would declare a state of emergency ahead of icy weather.
“People need to be ready to stay home and be prepared to lose power for a while, especially in the northern, western and Piedmont counties,” he said.
Madison Horton 15, builds a snowman in her front yard of her home in Nashville, Tennessee.
Weather delays Covid-19 vaccinations
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he believed his city would temporarily “run out” of doses by Thursday, at least in part because of weather-related shipment delays.
Nationwide, “shipping partners are working to deliver vaccine where possible … but the adverse weather is expected to continue to impact shipments” out of the FedEx facility in Memphis, Tennessee, and the UPS operation in Louisville, Kentucky, “which serve as vaccine shipping hubs for multiple states,” CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said Wednesday.
CNN’s Alisha Ebrahimji, Judson Jones, Dave Hennen, Michael Guy, Artemis Moshtaghian, Chris Boyette and Melissa Alonso contributed to this report.
