By Georgina McCartney and Brendan O’Brien
Durban – An unusual winter storm hit the US Gulf Coast on Tuesday, breaking more than 100-year snowfall records in the southern region where flooding is rare, as much of the United States remains in a dangerous ice patch.
A blizzard warning was in effect for 31 million people – from south Texas east through Georgia and north to the Carolinas and Virginia – as of Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service said.
As the storm moved east, crews near Houston plowed highways Tuesday while the city’s streets, blanketed in white, were largely abandoned.
Schools were closed on Tuesday and Wednesday as the city, the fourth largest in the US, expected about 10 centimeters of snow.
“I’ve lived in Texas my whole life and I’ve never seen snow this deep,” said Ishan Bhaidani, 29, who owns a fintech company in Houston. “Usually it snows but this kind of snow is beautiful, a first.”
Authorities in Houston have investigated two possible weather-related deaths, including a homeless man found near an apartment complex, the Harris County Sheriff told X.
Snow fell in New Orleans, where 9.8 inches (about 25 centimeters) had accumulated in the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
Richard Bann, a NWS meteorologist, said the service was trying to make sure Tuesday’s snowfall broke the New Orleans record set in 1895 when 8 inches fell.
The last time New Orleans received any measurable snowfall was 2009, according to the NWS.
“Stay home and stay out of the streets,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said, as winds whipped snow from her face, in a video message to residents on the X.
Breaking a 144-year-old record, more than 15 inches of snow fell in Mobile, Alabama, this afternoon, according to the NWS.
The storm is expected to make landfall in Mississippi, Georgia and Florida early this week.
The storm hit air travel with flights delayed or canceled on Tuesday. More than 1,000 flights to and from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston have been canceled, according to Flightaware.com.
Temperatures dipped into the single digits Fahrenheit, well below freezing, across the region. Doctors and local leaders urged residents to protect themselves from the cold and take measures to prevent their water pipes from bursting.
Across the South, the snow, combined with an inch of snow and wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour (64 kph), could make road and air travel difficult for several days, while threatening to bring down power lines and trees, forecasters said. said.
About 30,000 homes and businesses in southeast Texas were without power at one point Tuesday, but by afternoon that number had dropped to less than 8,000, according to Poweroutage.us.
Atlanta, Georgia, and Montgomery, Alabama, opened warming centers and closed government offices in anticipation of the storm. Several school districts have canceled classes, according to local news.
To the north, most of the eastern two-thirds of the United States experienced freezing temperatures as the Arctic front was expected to continue through at least Tuesday.
Grand Lake, Colorado, was the coldest place in the US on Tuesday morning at -39 F (-39 C).
