Winter Storm Batters Georgia and the South

More than quarter million customers left without power throughout the South.

ByABC News
February 12, 2014, 2:59 PM
Sparse traffic makes its way on the Interstate 75/85 connector just south of downtown Atlanta, early Feb. 12, 2014. A combination of sleet, snow and freezing rain was expected to coat power lines and tree branches with more than an inch of ice between Atlanta and Augusta.
Sparse traffic makes its way on the Interstate 75/85 connector just south of downtown Atlanta, early Feb. 12, 2014. A combination of sleet, snow and freezing rain was expected to coat power lines and tree branches with more than an inch of ice between Atlanta and Augusta.
Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP Photo

Feb. 12, 2014— -- A massive winter storm that experts are calling "catastrophic" is churning its way through the South, grounding flights, keeping cars off the road and shuttering schools and businesses.

In Georgia alone, more than 100,000 customers are without power. Atlanta, the region's hub for commerce and travel, is under a state of emergency and frozen in half an inch of ice. And there are at least 254,000 homes and businesses without power across at least six southern states.

'Catastrophic' Storm Moving Up the East Coast

Unaccustomed to such weather, cities and states are straining to provide services and oversee a timely clean up, while panicked residents have cleared supermarket shelves of staples.

PHOTO: Snow plows clear Interstate 75/85 on the downtown connector while transportation and business grinds to a halt during a winter storm, Feb. 12, 2014, in Atlanta.
Snow plows clear Interstate 75/85 on the downtown connector while transportation and business grinds to a halt during a winter storm, Feb. 12, 2014, in Atlanta.
PHOTO: A Publix grocery store's depleted shelves are seen ahead of a predicted winter storm to hit metro Atlanta, in Decatur, Ga., Feb. 11, 2014.
A Publix grocery store's depleted shelves are seen ahead of a predicted winter storm to hit metro Atlanta, in Decatur, Ga., Feb. 11, 2014. Government officials are hoping to avoid another winter weather nightmare, as snow and ice is predicted over the next two days.
PHOTO: Snow covers the parking area of a a nearly vacant pharmacy, Feb. 12, 2014, in Atlanta.
Snow covers the parking area of a a nearly vacant pharmacy, Feb. 12, 2014, in Atlanta. Across the South, winter-weary residents woke up to a region encased in ice, snow and freezing rain, with forecasters warning that the worst of the potentially "catastrophic" storm is yet to come.