Ice storm cuts power in Southeast, kills 4

More than 500,000 lose power; electricity may not return until Tuesday

NBC VIDEO

Slippery forecast
Dec. 15: MSNBC TV meteorologist Sean McLauglin describes what the South and Northeast can expect over the next day.

MSNBC

Video: Weather

Fires blaze toward Calif. homes
Nov. 25: Officials in Anaheim say a fire that is threatening homes near Los Angeles is about 10 percent contained. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown report.

English town takes stock of flood’s toll

Landslide topples Turkish home

House collapses during Turkish mudslides

Deadly dust storm in Nevada

More from weather.com

Hurricane Central
Flu outbreak maps
Fall foliage
Severe alerts
WeatherReady
Holiday Helper
Rush hour traffic
Airport delays
Personal Petcast
NFL gameday watch

Slideshow

Hurricane havoc
View images from the deadliest and costliest hurricanes to hit the United States.

NBC VIDEO

Heating help
Dec 8: With heating bills rising, more families are turning to low-income heating assistance programs. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.

Nightly News

updated 8:35 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2005

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Widespread damage from a deadly ice storm left more than half a million customers still in the dark Friday night, and utility officials said the electricity might not be fully restored in parts of the Carolinas until Tuesday.

The storm blew through Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia on Thursday and was blamed for hundreds of traffic accidents and at least four deaths. Ice built up on tree limbs, causing them to snap and pull down power lines.

Duke Power, the leading electricity provider in the hard-hit areas, said the storm inflicted “extreme structural damage” that kept 536,000 customers in the Carolinas without power Friday evening, down from 683,000 at the height of the storm.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

The company urged customers facing extended periods without heat to find another place to stay.

About 7,500 utility technicians were on the job, Duke said.

Power was restored more quickly in Georgia, where the remaining 30,000 homes and businesses still without electricity Friday afternoon were expected to have power by morning.

At least four deaths were reported from the storm as the storm moved up the East Coast. Two men died in Maryland and another died in Georgia after the freeze made driving treacherous. In suburban Charlotte, a 58-year-old man died when a tree buckled from heavy ice and crushed him in his home.