Components of Florida Panhandle shut down by historic winter storm

By Wealthy McKay and Georgina McCartney

ATLANTA (Reuters) -An historic January storm dumped extra deep snow alongside the U.S. Gulf Coast on Wednesday after bringing Houston and New Orleans to a close to standstill over the previous two days and burying elements of Florida’s Panhandle with accumulations extra typical of Chicago.

One other 4 inches (10 cm) of snow, mixed with sleet and freezing rain, piled up in some spots in northern Florida, southern Georgia and southeast South Carolina because the storm crawled by the area on Wednesday, the Nationwide Climate Service mentioned.

Florida might have already damaged its all-time document of snowfall with 9 inches within the western Panhandle city of Milton, close to Pensacola, in line with Frank Pereira, a meteorologist with the Nationwide Climate Service’s Climate Prediction Heart.

Earlier than this storm, Milton Mayor Heather Lindsay (NYSE:LNN) mentioned she had not seen a snowflake fall on the town since 2014.

“We’re taking it in stride, however every little thing is shut,” mentioned Lindsay. Town has no snow plows and most residents do not even personal a snow shovel, she mentioned.

“However the children are out utilizing kayaks and inside tubes as sleds, having fun with a snow day,” she mentioned.

Because the precipitation dissipated on Wednesday, frigid air set in and can stay at the least till this weekend alongside the Gulf Coast and the East Coast.

“The chilly is sticking round,” Pereira mentioned.

Tallahassee, Florida’s capital metropolis, the place temperatures are sometimes within the 60s in January, was anticipated to see a low of 4 levels Fahrenheit (-15 levels Celsius) on Wednesday.

The winter storm had already slammed main Gulf Coast cities comparable to Houston, the place 4 inches (10 cm) of snow fell, probably the most the town has gotten since 1960. Within the New Orleans space, a document 10 inches (25 cm) of snow gathered in some locations, turning Bourbon Road white on Tuesday.

SNOW A RARITY IN LOUISIANA

Justin Daffron, chief improvement officer at Covenant Home in New Orleans, mentioned its shelter was working at full capability however managing to maintain up with demand despite the fact that snow emergencies are just about unknown in Louisiana.

“I believe that is totally different as a result of hurricanes in New Orleans are commonplace, and we’re unaccustomed to the extreme winter climate,” he mentioned. “It took everybody abruptly as a result of for these of us who’ve had winter climate right here earlier than, it was mainly a dusting.”

The storm has killed at the least 12 individuals, together with 5 in Zavala County, Texas, early on Tuesday in a automotive accident on Freeway 57, in line with the Texas Division of Public Security. Two different Texas deaths have been reportedly attributable to publicity to the chilly in Austin, officers introduced.

Different cold-related deaths have been reported in Alabama and Georgia, officers introduced.

Some 20 million individuals throughout the area have been underneath winter climate advisories and warnings on Wednesday, the Nationwide Climate Service mentioned, warning individuals in regards to the risks of frostbite and hypothermia and street journey.

“These journey impacts might linger for a number of days given the historic heavy accumulations mixed with frigid temperatures, in addition to the dearth of apparatus for clearing roads in comparison with areas additional north,” the service mentioned.

Greater than 90,000 properties and companies have been with out energy from Texas east into Georgia and Florida, in line with Poweroutage.us. Many colleges and native authorities workplaces have been closed, whereas many highways throughout the area have been slick, lined with snow and ice.

Airports, together with Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Dallas-Fort Price Worldwide Airport have been quickly closed in a single day and early on Wednesday due to the storm. Greater than 1,400 flights have been canceled within the U.S., many within the southeast and one other 1,200 have been delayed, in line with the monitoring web site, Flightaware.com.

U.S. liquefied pure fuel firm Freeport LNG mentioned on Wednesday it closed its export plant in Texas on Jan. 21 as a consequence of an influence feed drawback in the course of the winter storm, and can hold it shut till energy provide stabilizes.

The U.S. Northeast was dealing with one other day of frigid chilly temperatures. The bottom temperature recorded within the contiguous United States on Wednesday was a harsh -27 levels Fahrenheit (-32 C) in Davis, West Virginia, in line with the Nationwide Climate Service.