Powerful winter storm in the South continues to disrupt air travel

ATLANTA —  Snow and ice across the U.S. South are expected to relinquish their grip only slowly as the weekend continues.

Major airports, including Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., continued to report disruptions Saturday, while temperatures are expected to plunge after sundown Saturday, raising the risk that melting snow will refreeze, turning roadways treacherous.

Flights were operating, but airlines were already piling on new cancellations and delays after Friday’s weather slowed airline travel to a crawl. By 10 a.m. Saturday, more than 300 flights in and out of Atlanta had been canceled, and more than 250 delayed, according to tracking software FlightAware. More than 200 flights in and out of Charlotte had been canceled and over 100 were running late.

Sarah Waithera Wanyoike, who lives in the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn, was starting her second day at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Saturday. Wanyoike arrived at the world’s busiest airport before sunrise Friday to catch an Ethiopian Airlines flight, on the way to her job in Zimbabwe.

The plane was boarded after a delay on Friday, but never left, discharging passengers back to the gate after taxiing around for six hours. Wanyoike likened her abortive trip to a “hostage situation,” saying her luggage was stuck on the plane and she dared not try to go home because she was told to be back at the gate before dawn Saturday.

“People slept with their babies on the floors last night,” Wanyoike said.

But Saturday morning found the flight delayed again, and Wanyoike deeply frustrated with a lack of communication from the airline. “It’s not even on the board at the airport,” she said. “There’s no indication that we’re leaving.”

Delta Air Lines, the largest carrier at the Atlanta airport, said it was “working to recover,” saying cancellations would be worst among morning flights because of crews and airplanes that weren’t where they were supposed to be after the airline canceled 1,100 flights on Friday.

Major roads were mostly clear across the South, but few ventured out early Saturday. The Atlanta Hawks postponed the pro basketball game they were supposed to host Saturday afternoon against the Houston Rockets. The storm that brought snow to the South was forecast to move out to sea off the East Coast on Saturday.

The storm brought heavy snow and slicked roads across much of Texas and Oklahoma before moving east. Governors in multiple states declared states of emergency. School was canceled Friday for millions of children from Texas to Georgia and as far east as South Carolina.

The storm piled up more than a year’s worth of snowfall on some cities.

Associated Press writer Amy reported from Atlanta, Finley from Norfolk, Va. AP reporters Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tenn.; Kate Brumback in Atlanta; Jeff Martin in Kennesaw, Ga.; Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, N.C.; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville; Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City; Isabella O’Malley in Philadelphia; Olivia Diaz in Richmond, Va.; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C.; and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Wa., contributed.