The icy roads that stopped traffic in its tracks across major portions of Alabama and Georgia have also cut into the blood supplies in both states.

“On Tuesday, icy roads in Mobile, Atlanta and Birmingham have caused LifeSouth to cancel blood drives and close many of its donor centers,” said LifeSouth Director of District Operations J.D. Pettyjohn. “At some of our locations we’ve had staff stranded for more than 24 hours because they were unable to travel home.”

Pettyjohn said some LifeSouth bloodmobiles were stranded or required several hours to cover a few miles to get back to their bases after the storm rolled through.

“Because of the halt in collections, we’ve fallen behind,” Pettyjohn said. “In many of these locations we had no blood drives today. We hope that the roads will reopen Thursday, but we will need our donors to help make up for those lost days. We had just rebuilt our supplies from the holiday slowdown when this hit.”

Donors must be at least 17 years old, or 16 with parental permission, weigh a minimum of 110 pounds and be in good health.

A photo I.D. is also required.

Check Lifesouth.org or the LifeSouth Facebook page for information on center reopening or call 888-795-2707.