Southern cities get creative to remove leftover snow and ice after rare winter storm

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A few days later a winter storm record ice and snowfall, cleanup efforts were underway Thursday in several major Southern cities, such as New Orleans, where crews were removing snow the same way they remove trash, cups and plastic balls after Mardi Gras.

Temperatures were gradually rising across the southern United States, raising hopes that remaining snow and ice would melt.

“We have to be honest with ourselves: We’re from Louisiana, we know crawfish, we know football, but we don’t really know snow and ice and that’s OK,” said Daniel Gitlin, spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. “It’s going to go away and we’re better off letting Mother Nature do what she needs to do now.”

Up to 320 kilometers of highways are expected to remain closed through Friday due to patches of black ice, Gitlin said. Louisiana is almost out of salt after treating the roads, he added.

As part of the Big Easy, a private waste management company was hired to reuse equipment typically used to clean Mardi Gras beads and cups to clear snow from the streets.

IV Waste President Sidney Torres said his company deployed a 4,000-gallon (15,000 liter) “flush” truck to spray water on the ground to soften the ice before take it off in the historic and festive French Quarter. The truck normally sprays lemon-scented spray “to get rid of that smell of liquor, urine and vomit from the night before,” Torres said. “We are finding new solutions and better techniques to solve this problem.”

Arkansas has sent snow plows, dump trucks, salt spreaders and other equipment to Louisiana, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said.

The snowfall probably broke several records across the region, including Florida, where a preliminary report of 10 inches (25 centimeters) in one city would set a new all-time record for the state, if confirmed.

Snow totals reached 8 centimeters this week in Savannah, Georgia, the most recorded by the state’s oldest city since December 1989.

Snow was lighter in metro Atlanta, where southern suburbs saw more snow and ice than areas north of the city. In Covington, southeast of Atlanta, Jesse Gentes used a flamethrower to de-ice the roads in his subdivision. In good weather, he usually uses the flamethrower to remove brush, he told WSB-TV.

Light freezing rain was forecast Thursday in the port city of Brunswick and surrounding Glynn County, where local authorities had imposed an overnight curfew due to icy roads and freezing temperatures. Authorities opened three heating stations where people could escape the bitter cold, and nearly 4,000 county residents were still without power as of Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.

South Carolina reported at least one death in the storm. A 71-year-old man died of a medical condition while shoveling snow Thursday morning in Berkeley County, Coroner Darnell Hartwell said. About 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 centimeters) of snow fell in the area, according to the National Weather Service.

Snow and ice held firm and left damage on roads across coastal South Carolina. In Charleston, ice that melted and refrozen overnight closed the James Island Connector, a bridge that connects the city to its western suburbs. Police said on social media that “although crews are working hard, it is unlikely to reopen soon.”

Schools and county offices remained closed as officials in most areas south and east of the state capital, Columbia, asked people to stay home at least one more day .

It was a similar story in North Carolina, where slippery roads remained a hazard for drivers after snow melted and then refroze overnight. Schools have also been affected, including in Cumberland County, home to Fayetteville, where the school system announced that students would benefit from an “asynchronous” learning day allowing them to complete homework at home. Several other school districts were operating on a two-hour delay.

Some school systems in central and southern Alabama remained closed Thursday due to concerns about remaining ice on roads or the possibility of frozen pipes in schools. In coastal Baldwin County, sections of Interstate 65 and Interstate 10 were closed due to ice.

In the South, airports were gradually recovering from the weather disruptions. Nationwide, about 600 flights scheduled to or from U.S. airports had been canceled as of midday Thursday — a marked improvement from previous days, when the storm was at its peak, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware. com.

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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Associated Press writer Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina; Sara Cline in Key Largo, Florida; Jeff Martin in Kennesaw, Georgia; and Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed.