BELZONI, Miss. (AP) — Tens of thousands of people entered their sixth day with no electricity Friday as the Carolinas and Virginia were preparing for a significant winter storm that could bring more snowfall than some parts of North Carolina have seen in years.
The National Weather Service said arctic air moving into the Southeast will cause already frigid temperatures to plummet into the teens (minus 10 degrees Celsius) on Friday night in cities like Nashville, Tennessee, where many people still lacked power nearly a week after a massive storm dumped snow and ice across the eastern U.S.
More than 230,000 homes and businesses were without electricity Friday morning, with the vast majority of those outages in Mississippi and Tennessee, according to the outage tracking website poweroutage.us.
In Mississippi’s Lafayette County, where about 12,000 people were still without electricity mid-day Friday, emergency management agency spokesperson Beau Moore said he knows not everyone will get power back before the cold hits.
“It’s a race against time to get it on for those we can get it on for,” Moore said.
Forecasters say the subfreezing weather will persist in the eastern U.S. into February and there’s high chance of heavy snow in the Carolinas, Virginia and northeast Georgia this weekend, possibly up to a foot (30 centimeters) in parts of North Carolina. Snow is also possible along the East Coast from Maryland to Maine.
On Saturday night and early Sunday, forecasters expect intense winds accompanied by moderate to heavy snow that could lead to blizzard conditions for a time before the storm starts to move out to sea Sunday morning.
Snow should pile up in the Carolinas
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency Thursday in preparation for forecasts of several inches of snow statewide and possibly 1 foot (30.5 centimeters) in some locations, particularly in eastern counties and at the coast. The state avoided significant damage from the recent ice storm.
Hundreds of state National Guard soldiers were ready to help remove stuck vehicles or fallen trees from roads. And state Transportation Department workers, who have been removing remaining ice from roads, have already pretreated thoroughfares, agency Secretary Daniel Johnson said.
Stein and his team urged the public to heed warnings about snow accumulations, high winds and bitter-cold temperatures.
In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a beach city more accustomed to hurricanes, traffic jams and tourists, the National Weather Service has predicted 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snow.
The city has no snow removal equipment. Instead, newly-inaugurated Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark Kruea said they will “use what we can find” — maybe a motor grader or bulldozer to scrape snow off streets.
“With a hurricane you can storm proof many things," Kruea said Friday. "But at a place like this, there is only a few things you can do to get ready for snow."
In North Carolina, a steady stream of people lined up Friday at Holding Oil and Gas in Wake Forest to fill up propane tanks for the region's second major winter storm in as many weeks. Gas hissed as employee Stanley Harris disconnected one tank, set it aside with a clank and then hooked up another.
“They’re coming out of the woodwork,” he said. “I think they’re hiding underneath the gravel.”
Newberry County, South Carolina, Sheriff Lee Foster was preparing for potential snow in an area where remnants of Hurricane Helene cut power to most of the county of 40,000 people for more than a week in 2024. The county also lacks specialized snow tools and will rely on 4 x 4 vehicles and equipment it can borrow.
Hypothermia risks grow
With the wave of dangerous cold heading for the South, experts say the risk of hypothermia heightens for people in parts of Mississippi and Tennessee who are entering their sixth day trapped at home without power in subfreezing temperatures.
“The body can handle cold temperatures briefly very well, but the prolonged exposure is a problem.” said Dr. Hans House, University of Iowa professor of emergency medicine.
People who are more vulnerable — the elderly, infants and those with underlying health conditions — may have started experiencing hypothermia symptoms within hours of exposure to the frigid temperatures, explained Dr. Zheng Ben Ma, medical director of the University of Washington Medical Center’s northwest emergency department. That ranges from exhaustion to slurred speech and memory loss.
“Once you get into days six, seven, upwards of 10, then even a healthy, resilient person will be more predisposed to experiencing some of those deleterious effects of the cold temperature,” he said.
Frostbite is also a concern in southern states, where people might not own a heavy coat or boots or gloves built for northern winters, said Dr. David Nestler, an emergency medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
Mississippi and Tennessee still seeking full power
Mississippi officials say it’s the state’s worst winter storm since 1994. About 80 warming centers were opened across the state, known as one of the nation’s poorest. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said National Guard troops were delivering meals, blankets and other supplies by truck and helicopter.
In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee said crews had distributed more than 600 units of warming supplies and more than 2,200 gallons (8,328 liters) of gas and diesel.
Nashville residents' criticisms have grown louder over the local utility's handling of storm prep and recovery, as more than 70,000 homes and businesses it serves remained powerless with frigid temperatures expected. Nashville Electric Service has defended its approach, saying it was an unprecedented storm. At the peak, about half of its customers in and near the capital city lost power.
More than 80 people have died in areas affected by bitter cold from Texas to New Jersey. Roughly half the deaths were reported in Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. While some deaths have been attributed to hypothermia, others are suspected to be related to carbon monoxide exposure.
Dr. Abhi Mehrotra, an emergency medicine physician with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said it's important to make sure heat sources used indoors, including generators, are not emitting carbon monoxide, which could be deadly.
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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia, and Thanawala from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Jeff Martin in Kennesaw, Georgia; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Jonathan Mattise and Travis Loller in Nashville, Tennessee; Allen G. Breed in Wake Forest, North Carolina; Sarah Brumfield in Washington; Devi Shastri in Milwaukee and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.
