Southern States Brace for Disruptive Storm

Southern States Brace for Disruptive Storm

By TIMOTHY W. MARTIN And MIKE ESTERL

Several states across the South braced Sunday for a major winter storm that was expected to bring snow and freezing rain, disrupting air travel and inaugural activities for Georgia's new governor.

The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings from eastern Texas to North Carolina, with ice-storm warnings for Mississippi and Alabama. The bad weather approached just over two weeks after a heavy storm brought rare Christmas Day snow to many parts of the region.

Governors in both Alabama and Louisiana issued emergency declarations. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley asked residents to avoid leaving their homes, unless necessary, Sunday night and Monday. Officials across the Southprepared snow and salt trucks and power crews prepared for outages common in ice storms. Many schools canceled Monday classes.

Mississippi officials said Sunday that ice had already accumulated on roadways, bridges and overpasses in several counties.

In Atlanta, a morning prayer breakfast and evening black-tie gala planned around Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's inauguration on Monday were canceled, amid predictions of two to four inches of snow Sunday night followed by steady freezing rain on Monday. Mr. Deal will still be sworn in Monday afternoon, but urged Georgians to stay off the roads.

The expected precipitation triggered hundreds of flight cancellations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest airport and the biggest hub of Delta Air Lines Inc.

Delta said it canceled about 330 flights scheduled to depart Sunday night. Delta also canceled 1,400 flights Monday, or about a quarter of its daily global departures at this time of year.

The latest travel disruptions follow on the heels of thousands of flight cancellations around the U.S. between Christmas and New Year's because of extreme winter weather. Delta canceled about 3,100 flights between Christmas and New Year's, including more than 500 in Atlanta on Christmas Day.

AirTran Airways has canceled 270 flights for Monday. The unit of AirTran Holdings Inc. has about 700 daily departures across the U.S., including more than 225 out of Atlanta. A spokesman predicted only a couple dozen flights would be able to depart from Atlanta on Monday.

Delta and AirTran expect operations to begin returning to normal Tuesday and are waiving itinerary change fees for customers.