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American Morning

Snowstorm Has Disrupted Air Traffic in South

Aired January 03, 2002 - 07:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, let's look at this snowstorm that's covering much of the deep South this morning. We want to show you the latest radar loop that we've got from the region that shows what's going on, snow falling over much of the South and mid-Atlantic this morning. And even more is coming in the forecast from what we hear.

An ice and snow blanket is nearly everywhere now. These pictures are coming in from Columbia, South Carolina. That's just barely north of where we are right now. Sporadic power outages are reported and the state's 64,000 workers have been told to stay home today. No arguments from them, no doubt.

And here is a scene that we saw last night. Now, this is near North Carolina's capital city of Raleigh. And it's not going to get any better today, either. Up to a foot of snow is possible in North Carolina's rural northeast today.

It's the same story to the north in Virginia. These pictures coming in from Norfolk, where trucks are busy getting out there trying to clear all the roads. Schools and businesses are closed all over the place. Officials say that many roads in parts of the state are totally impassable this morning.

Now, we've been showing you pictures of roadways. Now, how about the runways? The storm has disrupted air traffic, as well. And Hartsfield International Airport right here in Atlanta is one of the busiest in the world.

Our David Mattingly is there still, we should say -- David, as I understand it, you were there, you've been there all night. You were trying to get out yesterday, is that what happened with you?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's just say it's been a real long night, Leon. But I've had a lot of company. There are thousands of travelers stranded here along with me. The problem beyond the weather, beyond the high volume of holiday travelers was the lack of equipment, not enough deicing equipment to service all the airplanes that were trying to get out of here last night.

So, for example, my flight was scheduled to leave at 8:15. We left at about, almost on time. But we ended up sitting on the ground with nowhere to go for seven hours. And others waited on the ground for even longer than that. The captain came on at one time and told us that some planes were having to turn around and go back to the gates because they had burned up too much fuel sitting there waiting to get out. They didn't have enough fuel to get to their destination.

In our case, the flight crew had been working too long. They were exceeding FAA regulations. So we had to go back to the gate.

Now, the result of all this is a lot of long lines here at Hartsfield. At one time the line to the Delta counter, the largest carrier here, the line seemed to extend for more than a football field's length.

There are a lot of bleary-eyed, a lot of sleep deprived people here trying to make a go of it, but the weather is not letting up. You can see it's coming down here and it is supposed to bring us another couple of inches before it's all through. And this is not just here in Atlanta, but, of course, all across the South and Southeast.

But again, people are going to try and make a go of it and try and get out of here just as soon as they can. There are people sleeping in the concourses. There are comfortable chairs that are very few and hard to come by, so be glad you have one, Leon, and enjoy sitting in it in a nice, warm place.

HARRIS: David, hey, listen, we are with you in spirit buddy. Sorry to hear you got stuck there last night. We'll let you go back inside and get warm and I hope someone saved a soft spot for you inside, OK? Take care.

MATTINGLY: Thanks.

HARRIS: We'll check back with you later on. Wow.

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