US Deep South winter storm blamed for at least 13 deaths

A winter storm that has slammed much of the Deep South in the United States has been blamed for the death of at least 13 people.

Snow and ice forced drivers and commuters on Wednesday in a number of southern US states to abandon their vehicles on the road, essentially turning the road into parking lots.

Helicopters flew over the roads to search for and help stranded drivers while authorities struggled to deliver food, water and gas or a ride home to the people stuck on highways, the Associated Press reported.

Six states — Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina — declared emergencies as millions of commuters, students, truckers, and their families were affected.

Georgia’s top elected officials criticized the National Weather Service for failing to provide better forecasts of the storm system that has crippled the Atlanta metropolitan area.

“The buses had a tough time getting kids home, but meteorologists should not be thrown under the bus,” Marshall Shepherd, a meteorologist with the University of Georgia and current president of the American Meteorological Society, said.

“We literally would go 5 feet and sit for two hours,” said Jessica Troy, who spent over 16 hours in her car before finally getting home late Wednesday morning after a 12-mile trip.

“I slept for an hour and it was not comfortable,” Troy said. “Most people sat the entire night with no food, no water, no bathroom. We saw people who had children. It was a dire situation.”

The unusual snow storm dumped mere inches of snow in the states of Georgia and Alabama but caused more than 1,000 fender-benders there.

Police in suburban Atlanta also reported that one officer helped a woman give birth on a gridlocked interstate on Tuesday.