Freezing rain sends cars crashing on Georgia interstate

ATLANTA – A crash involving more than 30 cars closed the northbound lanes of an interstate in north Georgia as light freezing rain fell across wide swaths of Georgia and Alabama on Monday.

No serious injuries were reported in the pileup, but it led to lengthy traffic backups on the freeway that connects Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The pileup happened about 20 miles (32 kilometres) southeast of Chattanooga. The crash and icy conditions caused all northbound lanes of I-75 to close about 8 a.m. Monday, WRCB-TV reported .

In northeast Alabama, emergency managers reported ice on highways and bridges. Several school systems delayed Monday classes.

Many school districts across north Georgia were closed.

Most of north Georgia — including metro Atlanta — was under a winter weather advisory, hours ahead of Monday night’s college football championship game in Atlanta.

South of Atlanta, a deadly, four-vehicle crash closed all northbound lanes of Interstate 75, Clayton County police tweeted . That crash left one person dead and another critically injured. Police haven’t said whether icy conditions contributed to the wreck, but the county was under a winter weather advisory at the time.