they want the cars off the roads so snowplows and salt trucks can do their jobs and finally turn the corner to start clearing up the massive wintery mess. carol? just to figure out why this traffic mess happened in raleigh. that warning to stay off the roads was in effect when people tried to do errands right? reporter: what we were hearing from motorists, they had the warnings, knew the storm was coming. what surprised them was how much snow they got and how quickly they got it in the raleigh area. it was at a time people were trying to leave their jobs and go back home. like what we saw in atlanta a couple of weeks ago. in this case it was the tremendous snowfall that seemed to catch everyone by surprise. they knew the snow was coming, they just didn t know it was going to be that much. a couple of differences then what happened in atlanta. north carolina had the national guard on stand by right? and they had a plan?
it s a little cold outside. roads is real bad. we re trying to stay focussed and get past where we need to. i d like to be home now. hopefully i can get there before dark. take a look at this. in the middle of the traffic you chaos, one driver saw this car spin out. as you can see, that car burst into flames. as far as we know, no injuries. what a frightening site. we have cnn coverage. indra petersons, david. let s start in central park with ashleigh banfield where snow is falling like mad. good morning. reporter: hi carol. sometimes it s hard to tell with the camera the direction the snow is falling. if you re traveling southward, no problem. if commuting this way, it feels like tiny bullets hitting your eyes. we re expecting 15 inches of
snow into my mouth. i feel like i m checking on the snow. as you go through tonight, the snow returning. if you see rain, don t think the system is over with. is not. it will cool off again this evening. if you are in boston. 4 to 8 inches of snow possible even through tomorrow for your morning commute. 12 inches through new york city. should die down by midnight or early morning tomorrow morning. into d.c., late evening tonight, should see that snow die down. still potential of a foot of snow. not hard to see looking at me, if nothing else, why, carol? indra petersons in white plains, new york. we ll head to central park in just a minute where it s also snowing like mad. thanks so much. as the storm churned its way up the east coast it barreled through the carolinas and created the exact same sort of traffic nightmares that paralyzed atlanta two weeks ago. commuters rushed to get home only to get stuck on the
through the cold. how did you get through the night? stayed under the cover and prayed i guess. it was really cold. it was really down in the low degrees. i just managed what i could. reporter: this community in clayton county, georgia one of the hardest h esest it comes to outages. residents knew the ice and snow that built up on trees and power lines would cause problems. took out three transformers like fireworks. sounded like a bucket of echoes. boom, boom, boom. everything went out. i said we re going to be in for a while. reporter: power crews are doing their best to restore as quick as possible. they say the process could take days. this is georgia man. i ve been here for years. reporter: now you see a live picture here where there used to be a tree in the road blocking
cancelled. take a look at this heavy, thick snow. that s the problem i want to spin around. you can see now actually people are enjoying it. a lot of people out on the mall. you might not be able to see because there s such a big blanket of snow. lots of people out here today. we are getting more snow later this afternoon. it stopped for the time being but should get worse later today. looks fun. erin mcpike, thanks so much. still to come in the newsroom, obama s sign of surge. lingering questions about how many people have paid for their plans. surge. lingering questions about how many people have paid for their plans. surge. lingering questions about how many people have paid for their plans. surge. lingering questions about how many people have paid for their plans. - surge. lingering questions about how many people have paid for their plans. up surge. lingering questions about how many people have paid for their plans. [ woman ] parking space found. [ male announcer ] .that sec