Bad weather moves into Eastern states; 5 dead in South
Source: AP
By REBECCA REYNOLDS YONKER
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Extreme wind gusts, blowing snow and widespread flooding made traveling treacherous on Friday as a storm system moved into the northeastern United States, leaving rising water and at least five deaths in its wake across the South.
More than 400,000 homes and businesses were without power Friday after the National Weather Service warned of gusts up to 60 mph (97 kph) from Virginia into New England. Falling trees damaged homes and power lines in many places. North Carolina and Virginia, where hundreds of people had to be pulled from flooded homes, had the most customers without electricity, according to poweroutages.us.
With water levels were rising fast after up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain in just three days, the Tennessee Valley Authority said it began making controlled releases from some of its 49 dams in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. That could lead to more flooding downstream, so people who live near the water should be wary, said James Everett, senior manager of the utilitys river forecast center in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Creek water was still raging Friday in Alabamas Bucks Pocket State Park, where a person was seen inside a car as it disappeared under the surface two days earlier. Rangers walked for miles above the swollen creek but found no trace of the vehicle, so authorities sent up a state helicopter crew on Friday.
Winston-Salem Fire Department firefighters with the Rescue Task Force rescue James Benjamin from his home at Liberty Landing Apartments as flood waters rise around the building on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, in Winston-Salem, N.C. (Andrew Dye/The Winston-Salem Journal via AP)
Read more: https://apnews.com/22f906d235f8efa3bf68e0db88dc76c0
yaesu
(8,020 posts)Vinca
(50,172 posts)Over the night we'd had rain, snow, ice and sleet. Inches of it. When I started to clean off the car I was completely dry, but it was raining. Before I was done I was so wet I had to go back into the house to change clothes and dry my hair again. What a mess. Now it's snowing again and we're supposed to get high winds later. So much for that groundhog and his bloody shadow. SW NH.
yaesu
(8,020 posts)through mid-spring.
5 inches of snow yesterday, followed by rain in the form of a quarter inch of ice overnight and in the morning, then sleet, then snow again. Wind is howling now. Looks like Siberia outside.
eppur_se_muova
(36,227 posts)... of visits there.
The streams rushing over the rocks were a big part of the attraction. Someone chose the wrong time to visit them.