WATCH: Winter storm barrels into the Southeast bringing heavy snow and rain

WATCH: Winter storm barrels into the Southeast bringing heavy snow and rain

Transcript for Winter storm barrels into the Southeast bringing heavy snow and rain

They would find a new owner. Moving on. The breaking news out of the American southeast. A major, powerful, December snowstorm moving in overnight. As you can see on the radar, North Carolina and Virginia are smack in the middle of the bull’s eye. As we come on the air. Those states expected to get up to and maybe more than a foot of snow. The storm taking down power lines. Creating a travel mess. Several accidents on the roads overnight. The situation is expected to get more dicey throughout the day. Let’s get right out to rob, who is on the ground in north Carolina. Rob, good morning. Hey, good morning, whit. This is the time of the year when some people would welcome this kind of scene. Something out of new England in December. But this, this morning is the south. Salisbury, North Carolina. Just outside of Charlotte. The Christmas decorations are swaying. The American flags are blowing. It’s windy. The snowfall rates are coming down at 1 to 2 inches per hour. This is along the I-85 corridor. And it is an absolute mess this morning. From this storm that is going coast to coast. From California now to the Carolinas. This morning, that powerful winter storm now slamming the south. Cars slipping and slg. Some drivers struggling to push their vehicles back on to the road. While trucks that are available struggling to keep the roads drivable. Rain changing to snow overnight. Interstate 85 is just a mess. We’re crawling, less than 30 miles an hour. Barely any pavement visible. We have only seen one plow working this road. Millions of Americans in the throes of treacherous conditions. What could be a dangerous storm in the region. Hundreds of homes in the dark with power outages. Virginia and North Carolina under a state of emergency. Receiving snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. Some areas already getting a foot. It’s time to hunker down and to stay safe. Reporter: Emergency crews standing by. Road crews loading up. A combination of salt brine, up to 30,000 gallons of it. Heavy equipment, of course, to help move up to 5,000 tons of rock salt to treat these roads. That’s just for Charlotte alone. One of many southern cities trying to beat back this storm. In Georgia, freezing rain, several inches of snow. The visibility near zero on the icy roads. The same system leaving parts of Texas buried in 10 1/2 inches of snow. This once crowded interstate now deserted. The storm snarling those on the ground and on the air. This morning, more than 1,000 flights canceled. Airlineses issues flight waivers to people affected by the storm. This would have been a difficult storm to handle in places used to snow, like the northeast. Here in the south, they don’t get snows like this, certainly not in December. They are struggling. Let’s get to the maps and show you the expanse. The snow getting into Richmond. The snow advisories and warnings have been extended overnight. A northern reach to the storm. Raleigh, significant snowfall totals, as well. Overperforming in some areas. Likely see over a foot of snow in some areas. Flood watches posted for parts of Georgia. Heavy rain there as this storm continues to slide off toward the east. Winter storm warnings remain in place. The precip can change in intensity and precip types over the next few hours. It will linger, really, through tomorrow morning. There’s an upper level component to this. I suspect schools across many areas here in the Carolinas will be closed this coming Monday. Much more throughout the program. Guys, back up to you. Thanks, rob. Now we turn to politics, and

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

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