A winter storm watch brought icy roads, especially in the mountainous areas. It also caused widespread power outages.

Karlene Claridy of the EPB said no power was off until 4:45 a.m. Saturday, but she said accumulating ice on trees began to be a factor. The first outage was in the Murray Hills area.

By noon there were 11,000 EPB customers without power.

Ms. Claridy said the number was down to 9,000 customers by 2 p.m. It was hoped to get all the power back on by midnight.

At 5 p.m. she said, "A staff of nearly 250 EPB and contract crew members have worked throughout the day to restore service to customers who remain without electricity following this morning's ice storm. Crews have been able to restore power to 21,000 customers. However, the continual freezing rain has caused trees and limbs to snap and fall on power lines. As long as these conditions continue, EPB expects to see additional outages throughout the evening.

"Additional contract crews are expected this evening from surrounding areas to assist EPB crews and its current contract crews in working throughout the night to restore power to customers in areas extending from North and East of Chattanooga to North Hamilton County."

By 10:45 p.m. Saturday, there were still 6,000 homes without power. EPB crews planned to work throughout the night.

Hardest hit areas at the time were Signal Mountain, Soddy-Daisy, Red Bank and Hixson.

Most main roads were open, but there were icy areas in the higher elevations.

The icy conditions were widespread in numerous areas of the South - especially in the Atlanta area.

The winter storm caused some flight cancellations and delays at the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport.

As of 4 p.m. Saturday, here is the latest news on cancellations and delays from the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport. All departing Atlanta, Charlotte and Cincinnati flights from the Chattanooga Airport have been cancelled for Saturday, Jan. 29. The last arriving flights of the day from Atlanta, Charlotte and Cincinnati are still scheduled to run. Sunday’s 8:05 a.m. flight to Charlotte has been cancelled. Memphis and Chicago flights are still on schedule.

Christina Siebold, airport spokesperson, said, "This information could change without notice. We strongly encourage passengers to continue checking the airport’s website at www.chattairport.com for schedule information through the Flight Tracker. Schedule data as well as rebooking information is available from the airlines’ websites or reservation agents. (NOTE: Due to the widespread weather cancellations, the airlines’ call centers are expected to experience significant delays. Passengers looking for flight information will be best served through the websites):"

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, Cincinnati): www.delta.com 1-800-221-1212
US Airways (Charlotte, Washington DC): www.usairways.com 1-800-428-4322
Northwest Airlines (Memphis): www.nwa.com 1-800-225-2525
American Airlines (Chicago): www.aa.com 1-800-433-7300

The Tennessee River Federation Parade that had been set for Saturday was postponed.

Highs were to reach into the mid 40s on Sunday as the precipitation moves out of the area.

Ice patterns on Signal Mountain.
- Photo2 by Stuart James