(RALEIGH) - A surprise 1-inch snow that turned to ice on frigid roads crippled North Carolina's capital, freezing motorists in epic traffic jams and stranding some 3,000 students overnight at their schools.

Highways were clogged Wednesday with desperate drivers whose
routine commutes stretched to as long as eight hours. Law officers tallied about a thousand accidents in the Raleigh-Durham area, but there were no reports of fatalities.

Governor Easley declared a state of emergency late Wednesday,
allowing him to open two state government buildings in downtown Raleigh as shelters to accommodate drivers.

Early Thursday, the governor said residents should stay home so Department of Transportation crews could finish trying to deal with
the mess.

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