Eastern storm cuts power to tens of thousands as California braces for flooding

Storms dumped heavy snow and freezing rain on a swath of the eastern U.S. stretching from Kentucky to the nation's capital, causing hundreds of traffic accidents, knocking out power in places and threatening to flood waterways as temperatures began rising Wednesday. California, meanwhile, was bracing for an atmospheric river that could flood areas ravaged by the recent wildfires.

The storm system that cut a path from Kentucky to Maryland and points farther north on Tuesday brought more than 14 inches (37 centimeters) of snow to Iron Gate, a tiny Appalachian town in western Virginia, and 12 inches to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, a small city about 65 miles (105 kilometers) to the west, the National Weather Service said.

By Wednesday, more than 190,000 customers in Virginia and nearly 16,000 in North Carolina had lost electricity, according to PowerOutage.us. Appalachian Power, which serves a million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said Tuesday that it had 5,400 workers trying to restore power.

The region’s airports received several inches of snow, according to Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the weather service's Weather Prediction Center.

“After a pretty quiet few seasons here, things have kind of picked back up again,” he said.

Nearly 4,000 flights were canceled or delayed across the United States on Wednesday, including about 250 into Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware.com.

School was canceled throughout Virginia for a second straight day, and districts in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., areas also told students and teachers to take Wednesday off. Some families took the opportunity to go sledding outside the U.S. Capitol.

Flood threat

The snow-and-ice mix was expected to become rain by Wednesday afternoon as temperatures climb. Concerns about flooding emerged as rain and melting snow wash into rivers and streams in regions already saturated from previous storms.

A flood threat through Thursday morning stretched from eastern Tennessee to southwestern Virginia into other parts of South, the weather service said.

“Our main concern once we get into Thursday will be potential flooding impacts as we see rivers and streams swell with the combined impact of melting snowpack and rain at the same time.” said Vance Joyner, a weather service meteorologist in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Hundreds of accidents

In Kentucky, snowy roads caused a head-on fatal crash Tuesday in Nelson County, south of Louisville. The driver lost control of their car going into a curve, crossed the center line of the road and hit an oncoming semi truck head on, according to the county's emergency management director, Brad Metcalf. The driver died at the scene.

In Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency, the state police reported about 850 crashes on Tuesday and Wednesday, dozens of which involved injuries. An agency spokesperson said it's unknown if the weather caused the crashes.

Maryland State Police reported 235 crashes and 185 inoperable or unattended vehicles.

In southern West Virginia, multiple crashes temporarily shut down several major highways Tuesday.

Mess to the west

Points farther west weren't spared the wintry mess. A separate storm system was expected to dump heavy snow on an area stretching from Oklahoma to the Great Lakes on Wednesday, the weather service said.

Government offices were closed in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, and some universities in those states and Iowa canceled classes.

In Missouri, GoJet Airlines flight 4427 slid off an icy taxiway Wednesday at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, the airline said in a statement. The plane came to a stop in the grass, and no injuries were reported among the 27 people on board, it said. The runway was closed afterward and the passengers were bused to the terminal and reassigned to another aircraft.

On the West Coast, officials in Oregon's Multnomah County extended a state of emergency through at least Thursday, and five emergency shelters were open through midday Wednesday. Wind chill readings could dip to 10 degrees (minus 12 Celsius) in Portland, the weather service said.

In Portland, Oregon, an ice storm forecast for early Thursday and Friday could challenge deliveries of flowers and other gifts for Valentine's Day. Temperatures plummeted earlier this week in the area, which is more known for its rainfall, leading Multnomah County to open five emergency shelters.

Julia Duncan, a co-owner of Flowers in Flight in Portland, shrugged off the weather, saying the area endured ice storms in past winters and that customers are willing to go the extra mile for the people they love.

“It’s Valentine’s Day!” Duncan said. “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

Although the weather could slow deliveries, “we're in the neighborhood where a lot of people tend to do pickups, too, and (we've) got a couple of drivers who are willing to drive in the ice and snow," Duncan said. "So hopefully it won't affect us too much.”

California rain

Light rain began falling Wednesday in California as the state prepared for a strong atmospheric river. Over the next several days, the long band of water vapor that transports moisture from the tropics to northern latitudes is expected to bring downpours, powerful winds and mountain snow. The San Francisco Bay Area could get up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain before the storm moves out Friday, the weather service said.

The biggest threat was to the Los Angeles area, where hillsides burned bare by last month's devastating wildfires could let loose with torrents of ash, mud and vegetation. Crews spent the week setting up barriers in affected neighborhoods and clearing debris basins. Evacuation warnings were issued for residents in scorched areas. More than 700,000 sandbags have been arranged across central and Southern California, according to the state Department of Water Resources. A stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway near the Palisades Fire burn scar was closed as a precaution.

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Associated Press journalists from across the U.S. contributed to this report.