PHILADELPHIA, Dec 5: An unusual early December storm left more than one million without power in the Carolinas as it pushed into the US mid-Atlantic, blanketing cities from Washington to New York with several inches of snow.

Snow, sleet and freezing rain from the region’s first major storm of the season played havoc with the morning rush hour along the US East Coast, snarling commuters in traffic accidents and flight delays, and forcing schools to close.

Philadelphia and Washington both declared snow emergencies as meteorologists forecast up to 20cms of snow for the region as far north as New York City, where snow was expected to fall all day.

The low pressure system turned the National Weather Service map at www.nws.noaa.gov red with winter storm warnings from central Kentucky and the western Carolinas into New England.

“It’s a good nor’easter. In some areas this may be the worst storm in a few years,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Art Kraus in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

Particularly hard hit was the US southeast, where ice accumulations on Wednesday downed power lines. Slippery roads brought a rash of traffic accidents, some deadly, in the South and Midwest.

“I never thought I would see ice like this here. I don’t like it because the power blinks on and off. And, if the power goes, we’ve got to go,” said Janice Janice Wicker, a mother of two in Jalapa, South Carolina, where a thick sheet of ice covered homes, cars and fences.

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley urged people in the worst hit parts of his state to stay at home until road conditions improved. One of the fatalities attributed to the weather occurred in Rowan County, North Carolina.

“The best thing for people to do is stay inside, off the roads and out of harm’s way,” Easley said.

Duke Power reported 660,000 customers without power early Thursday in South Carolina and North Carolina, including 145,000 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Progress Energy subsidiary CP&L said another 465,000 customers were without power, primarily in central North Carolina.

“Most of the outages are in the Raleigh-Durham area — we have about 392,000 customers without power in that region this morning,” CP&L spokesman Tim Pittman said.—Reuters