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Winter weather deaths climb to 15 as South cleans up snow

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — The deep freeze that shut down much of the South began to relent Thursday as crews salted and cleared roads after a slow-moving storm left ice and snow in places that usually enjoy mild winters. At least 15 people died in accidents and frigid weather.

Even after the storm blew off shore, North Carolina officials urged drivers to stay home while crews worked on roads made treacherous by the storm. Other parts of the South continued to struggle, including Louisiana, where interstate highways remained closed in the capital of Baton Rouge and New Orleans residents were told to stop using water after so many pipes froze and broke that systems lost pressure.

Even low hills in unplowed residential neighborhoods proved too much for drivers in North Carolina’s Durham County, where the storm dumped up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of snow on Wednesday. A dark-colored sedan sat abandoned in the middle of the road in one neighborhood Thursday. A few people shoveled driveways but most stayed bundled inside.

“This is an extraordinary event to have this much snow all across the state. We aren’t used to that. We’re working as hard as we can,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.

Mark Foley, 24, wore a hat and jacket as he worked to start his pickup truck covered in a half-foot (15 centimeters) of snow in a Durham driveway. After a few minutes in the 15-degree (9 Celsius) air, he was able to go pick up an in-home health aide for his disabled father.

“My lock was frozen, so I couldn’t even unlock the door. So I had to use some warm water,” he said holding an empty pitcher. “It’s more snow than we thought we were going to get.”

Two-thousand state trucks were out plowing and salting in North Carolina a day after the storm dumped as much as an inch per hour from the mountains to the coast.

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