Schools and buildings from Texas to Georgia were shut yesterday or prepared to close ahead of freezing rain and snow forecast for much of the southern US as another burst of plunging temperatures and winter storms threatened to again snarl travel.
Texas schools canceled classes for more than 1 million students in anticipation of icy and potentially dangerous conditions that could last into today.
Closures also kept students home in Kansas City and Arkansas’ capital, Little Rock, while Virginia’s capital, Richmond, remained under a weather-related “boil advisory,” with officials advising people to boil water before using it as they work to restore the water reservoir system, which malfunctioned after a storm caused a power outage.
Photo: AP
In the Dallas area, crews treated roads ahead of the expected arrival of 5cm to 10cm of snow.
Up to 12.7cm was expected farther north near Oklahoma, the US National Weather Service said.
As much as 20cm could fall in parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia through tomorrow, it added.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that the state deployed emergency crews in advance and urged residents to avoid driving in bad weather if possible.
Boston native Gina Eaton, who stocked up on groceries in Dallas ahead of the storm, said she has some trepidation about sharing roads with drivers unaccustomed to ice and snow.
“Even if there is ice, I’m very comfortable driving in it,” Eaton said. “It’s just other people that scare me.”
Roads could be slick today as 75,000 people were expected head to AT&T Stadium in Arlington for a college football championship semi-final between the Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl.
Arlington spokeswoman Susan Shrock said that crews would be ready to address any hazardous road conditions.
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