Crews work to restore power to the Central Garden neighborhood of Memphis, Tenn., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. More than 120,000 customers were without power Friday afternoon in Shelby County, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP)
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - The winter storm that caused hundreds of thousands of power outages and contributed to hundreds of traffic accidents from Texas to Maine had moved out to sea Saturday, and while most locations were returning to normal, many people in the Memphis, Tennessee, area were without electricity and could be in the dark for a full week.
On Saturday morning the local utility, Memphis Light, Gas and Water reported about 84,000 customers, about 20% of the total, remained without power. In a social media post the utility said crews were working around the clock to restore power after 225 trees were brought down by the ice.
The National Weather Service is forecasting temperatures to be in the low 30s in Memphis on Saturday.
Memphis utility officials were planning a news conference at mid-day Saturday to discuss the situation.
Meanwhile, in New England, Massachusetts officials were still warning motorists on Saturday to watch for slippery spots on highways where hundreds of accidents, including one fatal crash, were reported on Friday.
Airlines that had scrubbed about 3,400 flights by midday Friday, were working Saturday to catch up with the backlog.
At least four fatalities are being blamed on the storm.
In addition to the fatal crash in Massachusetts, in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, suburb of Broken Arrow police said they were investigating a hit-and-run crash that killed a 12-year-old boy who was struck while sledding.
In western Alabama a tornado on Thursday killed one and critically injured three others. In Tennessee, a man was killed Thursday when his truck crashed into a tree that had fallen on to a highway.
More than a foot (30 centimeters) of snow fell in parts of Pennsylvania, New York and New England. While the bulk of the storm has moved out, the National Weather Service in Buffalo tweeted Saturday that several inches of lake effect snow was possible in areas southeast of the lakes.
Hunter Tubbs, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Maine, said the storm represented a 'œhighly energized system'ť with waves of low pressure riding along like a train from Texas, where there was snowfall and subfreezing temperatures, to Maine and the Canadian Maritimes.
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AP reporter Jonathan Matisse in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.
Ice covers the canopy of large trees in Memphis, Tenn., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. More than 120,000 customers were without power Friday afternoon in Shelby County, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP)
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Ice clings to a statue of Johnny Cash in Memphis, Tenn., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. More than 120,000 customers were without power Friday afternoon in Shelby County, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP)
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An ice-covered fallen tree covers a house on Quince Road of Memphis, Tenn., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. More than 120,000 customers were without power Friday afternoon in Shelby County, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP)
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An ice-covered fallen tree covers the yards of two house of Memphis, Tenn., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. More than 120,000 customers were without power Friday afternoon in Shelby County, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP)
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Three men work to push the car of Flex Wilson, right, from up the driveway to Eastmoor apartment at Fair Avenue and James Road following a winter storm on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio. James Road, a main thoroughfare on the East Side of Columbus, did not appear to have been plowed yet that afternoon. (Barbara J. Perenic/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)
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Traffic crosses the Zakim Bridge on I-93, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Boston. A major winter storm that already cut electric power to about 350,000 homes and businesses from Texas to the Ohio Valley is now causing misery in the Northeast. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
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A pedestrian walks on Tremont Street in freezing rain, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Boston. A major winter storm that already cut electric power to about 350,000 homes and businesses from Texas to the Ohio Valley is now causing misery in the Northeast. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
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A worker clears slush and freezing rain from the sidewalk, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Boston. A major winter storm that already cut electric power to about 350,000 homes and businesses from Texas to the Ohio Valley is now causing misery in the Northeast. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
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Sledders play on a snowy hill by Harwelden Mansion in Tulsa, Okla., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP)
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A worker carries a wheelbarrow of snow from the parking lot of Valencia Apartments in Tulsa, Okla., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP)
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A car slips and slides up a Grandview Avenue hill in the snow in the early morning hours Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Pittsburgh. (Pam Panchak/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)
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A fisherman fixes his line next to a fire hidden from authorities as fisherman stick it out during high winds and 30 degree temperatures at the fishing spot along Gayman Bridge, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, outside Port Isabel, Texas. (Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald via AP)
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Cars and trucks cross MoPac Expressway on Steck Avenue carefully as ice continues to cover the bridge on the morning on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022 in Austin, Texas. A major winter storm spread misery from the Deep South where a tornado claimed a life and tree limbs snapped under the weight of heavy ice all the way to the nation's northeastern trip where snow and ice caused havoc for travelers on Friday.(Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
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Dave Darling grimaces as wind begins to whip the snow back into his face Friday morning, Feb. 4, 2022, as he clears his driveway in Auburn, Maine. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal via AP)
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Mike Bolduc struggles to push a car out of his neighbor's driveway Friday morning, Feb. 4, 2022, in Lewiston, Maine. He was shoveling his driveway when he noticed a woman dropping off his neighbor was stuck in her driveway and walked across the street to first dig around the tires and then give it a push to get her back on her way. "It's what being a good neighbor is all about." Bolduc said as he headed back across the street to finish clearing his driveway. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal via AP)
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