sitting around crying, weight on my son to come home. reporter: given potter s sentence with time served, she ll likely be released from prison in april of next year. lester? ron allen, thank you. the impact of that massive winter storm still being felt tonight throughout the eastern half of the country. mora barrett now with lately details. reporter: tonight, millions recovering from a cross-country winter storm that brought out nearly all the elements. snow and intense ice in the midwest, causing a pileup of more than 100 vehicles. reporter: we re asking everyone to avoid the area. please do not travel unless it is an emergency. reporter: that road now open after part of it closed for nearly 24 hours. more travel delays in indiana, after a semi-truck crashed. in alabama, wind whipping into three tornadoes. gusts up to 100 miles uprooting trees, smashing trailers. first thing i started hearing was like a train coming across. so i got behind my
and neighbors. [inaudible] [inaudible] right now, they are advising people to stay home and let them do search and rescue. then coordination and resources of water and displacement of folks so they can have a place to stay. i encourage anybody who has electricity and running water, open their homes up and invite people to come stay with them. we don t have available hotel rooms, there s not enough houses or rooms to take care of everybody displaced. griff: as you are talking to us, you can hear the wind whipping, windy conditions it sounds like.
can right. they re expecting about 3 to 6 feet of storm surge here, but it gives you an idea of what they know could happen in places. yeah, i m glad you guys for you a place. we can see that wind whipping you around. stay safe. so you around. thanks very much, stay safe. as these areas are struck by hurricane ida, louisiana, mississippi, the state of louisiana and the south, really, already experiencing a flood of covid-19 patients. how are hospitals preparing? i want to bring in the chief medical officer for university medical center in new orleans. doctor, i spoke to you earlier this morning. obviously, the storm hadn t hit right then. what is it like right now? i am sure you can hear some of the rain noise and the wind. it has been hitting us hard, especially over the last half an hour, hour or so. i think people are settled in from a patient and saf perspective. but the storm is really hitting
overnight we saw nearly 200 accidents and 300 spin-outs. folks in minnesota know how to deal with these conditions. they still had trouble driving this morning. it s been improving so far. because of the snow mostly falling overnight, what we have figured out that is impact on the airport has been minimized. very minor cancellations and about 100 delays. that s good news so far. but the real talk is how much locker before this starts to freeze again because it s very cold. the wind has been up to about 30 miles an hour. that s the bone chill that you ve been feeling throughout this area. not super cold but cold enough to create more conditions on the road. as we look forward to folks traveling home, they re hoping it remains like this and we don t have a second impact of snow so they can get home and be safe. i see that wind whipping,
came in. and i want to tell people because, again, you and i had this conversation last night that you have rebuilt, you had rebuilt from the last big hurricane, right? yes. so hurricane matthew pretty much did a serious number on my roof. i had water damage inside my home. and we ve only just now putting the last laps of paint two years later on the house. it was very nerve-racking, but the house held up extremely well. we didn t lose any of the shingles that we have on the house. so it was a blessing for me but seeing the destruction around me is very sad. and terrifying as well. it s dark out. you re hearing the wind whipping and the rain coming down. but there were members of your family who, i think we can say, are lucky to be alive. they were actually in a structure that collapsed on them? yeah. both of my sisters and sister s