A huge storm system that dropped snow and sleet on the central United States and spawned damaging tornadoes across the south started moving toward the northeast Wednesday, slowing holiday travel. Travelers prepared for flight delays and a series of weather warnings for drivers, one day after rare winter tornadoes damaged buildings in Louisiana and Alabama. Snow and ice covered roads in southern Illinois and southern Indiana early Wednesday, and police reported several road accidents. The storm system moving from the Gulf of Mexico coast to the northeastern United States has been blamed for three deaths and several injuries. The storms also left more than 100,000 customers without power in the south. Severe thunderstorms were forecast for South and North Carolina, while a line of blizzard and winter-storm warnings stretched from Arkansas to New York and north to Maine. More than 300 flights around the country were canceled Wednesday morning, according to flight tracker FlightAware.com. The cancelations were mostly from airports that had been or soon would be in the path of the storm. Thirty-four tornadoes were reported in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama during the outbreak Tuesday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. Mobile, Alabama was the biggest city hit by tornadoes.
