Storms Make Travel Treacherous

Death Toll Up To 45; Schools, Offices Close Early

(CBS/AP)  A new round of freezing rain coated highways and power lines with ice Tuesday along the East Coast, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without power and keeping schools closed, while the Midwest hunkered down under more heavy snow.

At least 45 deaths had been linked to the snow, ice and cold since the weekend from Kansas to the Carolinas.

In Washington, the Office of Personnel Management decided to close federal offices early on Tuesday because of the weather.

Three motorists died in Virginia after their vehicles crashed into snowplows. All three crashes occurred within four hours of each other late Monday and early Tuesday in northern Virginia.

Up to 21 inches of snow was possible in northern Michigan, and Duluth, Minnesota, measured 24.8 inches Monday. Ten inches or more of snow was possible in parts of the Northeast when the stormy weather converges there late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

Freezing rain and drizzle fell from northern Georgia into Maryland on Tuesday, creating a coating of ice up to three-quarters of an inch thick in parts of South Carolina.

Utilities reported about 220,000 customers blacked out Tuesday morning in South Carolina, nearly 40,000 in North Carolina and 58,000 in northeastern Georgia.

Repair crews were hampered by slippery roads and ice-laden power lines.

"The problem right now is that as we get one power line repaired another one comes down with the weight of the ice," said Christy Ferrell, spokeswoman for South Carolina Electric and Gas Co.

It was the second day of severe weather in parts of the East as a complex weather system dominated the area.

Most schools, courts and businesses in Virginia remained closed for a second straight day because of slippery roads. Most schools in Maryland remained closed and local and state governments opened late or allowed employees to take liberal leave.

Towing services were busy.

"We've had about 30 calls since last night," Peter Ashenden of Lizard Lick Towing & Recovery said Tuesday as he worked to right an SUV that overturned near Wendell, North Carolina "People don't slow down for nothing."

Farther north, many New Jersey school districts also canceled classes Tuesday or planned early dismissals because of a threat of rain, freezing rain, sleet and up to 10 inches of snow.

The National Weather Service posted a winter storm warning for parts of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Snow had already started falling in wide areas of Pennsylvania and New York state.

In the Midwest, snow fell across parts of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and authorities in Michigan warned motorists to stay off the roads Tuesday.

"Don't drive if you don't have to," said Mike Proud, a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Gaylord, Michigan "Be well prepared. It's going to be a lot of snow."

Sections of Illinois got ice, sleet and snow Tuesday. "We got a cocktail, we got everything," said meteorologist Vince Acquaviva of the weather service in St. Louis.

And in North Dakota, where just over a foot of snow had fallen in places since the weekend, the Tuesday morning low at Grand Forks was -29 below zero.

The weather was blamed for six deaths each in North Carolina and South Carolina; five each in Iowa and Missouri; four in Ohio; three each in Virginia, Nebraska and Minnesota; two each in Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma; and one each in Kansas and West Virginia. Most of the deaths were in traffic accidents.