Story highlights Temperatures slowly rise across much of Southeast

Boil-water advisories issued in Louisiana parishes as pipes burst

(CNN) A winter storm blamed for at least eight deaths has blanketed the South in snow and ice, causing traffic pileups, canceling hundreds of flights and prompting officials to urge people to stay indoors through Thursday afternoon, when a considerable warmup began.

Officials have confirmed four deaths in Louisiana, two in Georgia, one in North Carolina and one in Houston.

More than 540 flights had been canceled by late Thursday afternoon, most to and from airports in Atlanta and North Carolina, according to the tracking site FlightAware.

Thousands of customers across Georgia and North Carolina had lost electricity, utility providers said, while several Louisiana parishes were under boil water advisories owing to busted pipes. Officials in Louisiana opted Thursday morning to keep portions of at least four interstate highways closed because of ice, they said, and state offices in parts of Georgia and Louisiana were due to remain closed for a second day.

Drivers, left, intentionally head the wrong way Wednesday on a Houston highway to avoid a backup.

Snow and icy conditions made roads in parts of the South and along the East Coast treacherous after a winter storm dumped snow Wednesday from the Florida Panhandle to Maine.

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