COLUMBIA, S.C. - A blast of freezing rain across Georgia and the Carolinas on Thursday closed schools, snarled traffic and caused power outages to more than 450,000 customers. At least one death was blamed on the storm when an ice-laden tree crashed through a man's house.

The widespread outages were caused by the ice that formed on tree limbs and fell onto power lines. In Kannapolis, N.C., just north of Charlotte, N.C., authorities say the weight of that ice buckled a 100-foot-tall tree that crushed 58-year-old David Ralph Jones while reclined on a couch in his living room.

School systems canceled or cut short classes across north Georgia, the affected parts of the Carolinas and into western stretches of Virginia.

The National Weather Service said the freezing rain was expected to continue in the region through Thursday evening and overnight temperatures were forecast to dip into the 20s.