© The Weather ChannelWinter storm warnings have been issued for parts of Texas
Winter Storm Inga unloaded snow and ice on much of the South Tuesday and Wednesday, and with frigid temperatures moving in behind the snowstorm, travel in the region has been all but shut down and at least 100,000 homes and businesses were in the dark.
At least seven deaths have been blamed on the winter storm. Authorities in Bibb County, Georgia, confirmed a fatal crash caused by wintry conditions killed two people Wednesday morning along Interstate 75, and the roadway was shut down the road for an extended period of time. On Tuesday afternoon, a woman
died in a crash on Interstate 64 in Cabell County, West Virginia, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
In Metairie, Louisiana, a baby died
after a vehicle crashed into a canal, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. The mother remains in critical condition following the crash that was likely caused by icy roads, the report added. The governor's office announced three more deaths caused by the storm.
Three other deaths were blamed on the brutally cold weather that rushed in behind the storm. Officials in Houston reported two deaths from cold-weather exposure and Memphis authorities said there was one confirmed fatality.
Hundreds of flights were canceled across the South again on Wednesday, including in Atlanta and Charlotte, where the former was in a ground stop in the morning hours and the latter was facing multi-hour delays.
Residents were urged to stay home and off the roads as several Southern cities attempted to avoid a repeat of recent "Snowpocalypse" events, when hundreds of thousands of motorists were stranded on icy roadways for several hours. Nevertheless, officials reported hundreds of accidents on slick roads in the metro Atlanta area on Wednesday
Comment: How treacherous did some of the roads get? Check out this tweet of the ice skating police officer:
Winter Storm Inga is the second major storm to hit the US in two weeks following Storm Grayson. A new storm system is forecast for the US West, Plains and Midwest into next week.