Winter Storm Shuts Down The Queen City

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by Kirk Hawkins, Photojournalist Darnell Hart

Story Created: Jan 26, 2013 at 12:16 AM EDT

Story Updated: Jan 26, 2013 at 12:18 AM EDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--While the de-icing trucks worked outside, and the delays stacked up on
monitors inside Charlotte Douglas, Denise Kimrey was ready for a long night after her
flight to Iowa was cancelled. "I have on almost pajamas in case I'm stuck here for a while. We'll just see," said Kimrey.

Falone Mcke and Symone Curry were ready to watch movies following their short school day.
"It's really cold. I don't know, I feel like I'm frozen," Mcke said. "It's not normal for charlotte to have sleet outside," said Curry.

As people stayed inside, Fuel Pizza was swamped with deliveries. They didn't expect the orders
to stop until they were scheduled to close at 3 a.m. "Because the weather can fluctuate
so much here in Charlotte that does dictate when we get busy.  It's definitely a lot of work throughout the entire day,"  said Fuel Pizza General Manager Tim Radley.

"I think there's a group of people that are probably  starting their weekend early today. What hasn't slowed down is the phones.  Those are ringing off the hook. People asking if we're open still.
The phone has been ringing like crazy," said Dowd YMCA Executive Director Chris Orr. Orr's gym was relatively quiet and North Charlotte Koli Doolittle was thrilled to have free reign. "It gets you out of the house. Who wants to go home from work and just sit on the couch?" she said.

Back at the airport, all this talk about the storm didn't faze Kevin Kimrey. "We get bad weather every once in a while anyway, so we're used to it," said Kimrey.

Because of the closures, most high school basketball games and wrestling matches have been
delayed until next week or early next month.

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