North Carolina Struggles to Come Out From Under Heavy Blanket of Snow
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: From the Carolinas to Maine, people are digging out from a classic nor'easter. It packed strong winds and dumped heavy snows, and even though the snow has stopped falling in some places problems may persist for days to come. In Boston, schools are closed, and Logan International Airport is expected to have more delays after being closed for three times, yesterday. The fast-moving storm produced more than a foot of snow in some areas before turning into sleet and then into freezing rain. Heavy snows swirled by high winds brought up to a foot of snow to parts of Connecticut during rush hour, while other areas slipped by with just a few inches of slush. CNN's Eric Horng is in North Carolina, this morning, the hardest- hit area and the least-ready area to deal with it.</s>ERIC HORNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Central North Carolina averages about five inches of snowfall each winter. Tuesday, parts of the region received more than three times that amount in just 12 hours.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't get snow like this around here.</s>HORNG: The storm dumped a record 20 inches in some areas of the state, closing schools and businesses, shutting down the Raleigh- Durham Airport, knocking out power to tens of thousands and drowning roads and interstates in a sea of white.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tapped my brakes, another car hit us from behind and we slid into that one.</s>HORNG: Officials mobilized 150,000 National Guard troops to help stranded drivers. All this while much of North Carolina's snow removal equipment sat unused in the state's western mountains which was spared the brunt of the storm.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Traditionally we've had our worst snowfalls up in the mountains, so most of the National Guard Humvees, for example, are up there, expecting to get several feet of snow as we have so often.</s>HORNG: For the people of North Carolina, this storm is the latest in a string of weather woes. The state baked in drought conditions last summer, followed by devastating floods brought on by autumn hurricanes, and now this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our emergency folks, we've been tested with Floyd, so I think we can handle anything that comes our way.</s>HORNG: Much of North Carolina resembles a ghost town, this morning, Governor Jim Hunt issuing a state of emergency, urging everyone to stay in their homes today, and if you take a look behind me you'll see precisely why: a blanket of snow covering virtually everything in sight, inundating cars, homes, businesses, trees. It is a wintry mess here in North Carolina. Leon, back to you.</s>HARRIS: Well, Eric, you hit the cars, the homes and the trees, how about the roads? How are they, this morning?</s>HORNG: They're still pretty bad. Most of the major thoroughfares, interstates, are passable, very slick but passable. Most of the back roads, however, and residential streets are not. So, that is precisely why officials are urging people to stay in their homes today.</s>HARRIS: All right, thanks. Eric Horng reporting live, this morning.