BY CHRISTOPHER CHESTER
The Associated Press
Snow, freezing rain and deep cold across the country knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes in the South and made a deadly mess of the Christmas Eve getaway.
In California, three straight nights of freezing cold wiped out most of the state's navel oranges and lemons, and prices could triple in supermarkets across the country. Industry losses were put at about $600 million.
In Los Angeles, where the temperature dipped to 38 degrees Wednesday night compared with the normal low of 48, homeless shelters were overcrowded.
"The weather is so cold right now that the people who don't normally come in are coming in," said Jeff Farber, assistant director for Los Angeles Family Housing.
Snow continued to fall Thursday afternoon across New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware, with freezing rain and sleet from Texas to Virginia, and some of the worst ice in Mississippi and Alabama. The Pacific Northwest also got snow and freezing rain.
Up to four inches of snow were expected by nightfall from Kentucky to New Jersey. Provincetown, Mass., had eight inches by the afternoon.
The cold snap, which began over the weekend, is blamed for scores of traffic accidents across the country.
Weather may have been a factor in a bus crash that killed eight people in Sayreville, N.J. The bus was taking 23 people from New York to Atlantic City on a gambling junket when it overturned on the snowy Garden State Parkway.
Weather-related accidents have killed at least 16 people in Texas, five in Virginia and two in Louisiana. In Alabama, icy roads have contributed to three deaths, and a homeless man died of exposure.
Delays and cancellations were reported at many airports, including Baltimore, Dallas, Charlotte, N.C., Richmond, Va., and Memphis, Tenn. Many passengers spent the night in airports and bus terminals. Jeff and Gayla Rury of Fletcher, Okla., were trying to get home to spend Christmas with their children after a trip to Orlando, Fla., but were stuck at the Memphis airport.
"They can't open their presents until we get there," Mr. Rury said. "They're going to wait -- I think."
Tree limbs weighed down with ice snapped power lines and knocked out electricity in communities around the country. More than 280,000 customers were without power in Virginia on Thursday, along with at least 170,000 in North Carolina, 138,000 in Louisiana and 112,000 in Tennessee.
In Central Park, many New Yorkers could not even remember the last snowy Christmas. (It was 1976.)
"It looks like ice cream," said Barbara Penny, 10. "Vanilla."
