Snowstorm disrupts travel in US South

WASHINGTON — Travel misery was set to continue on Sunday in the United States as a powerful snowstorm blasted southern states, bringing subzero temperatures to regions not accustomed to the deadly winter conditions.

The latest bout of extreme weather came about a week after a monster storm pummeled a wide swath of the US, killing more than 100 people and leaving many communities struggling to dig out from snow and ice.

Heavy snow fell in North Carolina and neighboring states on Saturday, as authorities urged residents to stay off the roads and warned oceanfront structures were threatened by the storm.

All of North and South Carolina, and portions of Georgia, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as southern Virginia were under a winter storm warning.

North Carolina saw 750 car crashes on Saturday, the highway patrol said.

Faust, North Carolina, recorded 37 centimeters of snow, while West Critz, Virginia, got 32 cm. Harrisburg, Tennessee, received more than 23 cm of accumulation.

In Cape Carteret, North Carolina, high winds sent thick snow blowing sideways, prompting the National Weather Service to warn that travel was "treacherous and potentially life-threatening especially if you become stranded".

In dramatic footage released by police in Gastonia, North Carolina, a train plowed at high speed into a semitruck that had gotten stuck on the tracks, crushing the vehicle. No one was hurt.

The weekend storm forced more than 1,800 flight cancellations on Saturday and Sunday at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, a major hub for American Airlines, data from the tracker FlightAware showed.

A 300-strong "snow team" was working to clear runways, taxiways, roads and sidewalks, the airport said on Saturday.

More than 600 flights were canceled on Saturday at Atlanta's international airport, one of the world's busiest. About 50 flights in and out of Atlanta were canceled in the early hours of Sunday.

"An explosively deepening coastal cyclone will continue to bring moderate to heavy snow, high winds and possibly blizzard conditions for the Carolinas," the National Weather Service said on Saturday.

"An intense surge of arctic air behind the coastal storm will send below freezing temperatures down toward South Florida by Sunday morning."

About 156,000 customers remained without power early on Sunday, mostly in the south, according to PowerOutage.us, with Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana hardest hit.

Agencies via Xinhua