US Roads Reopen As Huge Storm Heads East
Pastor Dale Morgan
Feb 25, 3:54 PM EST
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US Roads Reopen As Huge Storm Heads East*
By DAVID N. GOODMAN
Associated Press Writer
DETROIT (AP) -- The remnants of a huge winter storm plowed toward the
East Coast on Sunday after dumping as much as 2 feet of snow in the
upper Midwest, grounding hundreds of airline flights and closing major
highways on the Plains.
Eight traffic deaths were blamed on the storm, seven in Wisconsin and
one in Kansas.
Utility crews labored Sunday to restore power after the storm blacked
out hundreds of thousands of homes and business in Iowa, Illinois,
Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio. Street and highway crews - nearly 300 snow
removal trucks and plows in Chicago - worked to clear pavement of snow
and ice.
Moist air the storm system pulled from the Gulf of Mexico fueled violent
thunderstorms in the South, sweeping cars off roads, crumpling
businesses and sending mobile homes flying. Tornadoes were reported in
Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.
By midday Sunday, snow was dwindling but still falling from the eastern
Dakotas across the Great Lakes to the Washington area.
As the system stretched eastward, a dwindling band of snow extended from
the eastern Dakotas across the Great Lakes to the East Coast. Three
inches of snow had fallen by midday Sunday at Cumberland, Md., and the
District of Columbia declared a snow emergency, banning parking on major
routes to make room for snow plows.
Three to 4 inches of snow was expected in the Washington area and
motorists in the region were warned the snow could turn to ice during
the night.
Roads were treacherous Sunday across parts of Michigan, causing
accidents and snarling traffic. "It's extremely icy," said state Trooper
Bronse Gavin in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park.
The storm's snow, sleet and freezing rain led airlines to cancel 200
flights Sunday at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and about 35 at
Midway Airport, said Wendy Abrams, a spokeswoman for the Chicago
Department of Aviation. That was on top of more cancellations on
Saturday, and Abrams estimated that about 1,000 stranded passengers
spent the night at O'Hare.
Utilities in Iowa reported more than 162,000 customers without
electricity Sunday, most because heavy ice had brought down miles of
power lines and utility poles.
"It could be at least three days if not more than one week before we get
all the customers back on," Alliant Energy spokesman Ryan Stensland said
of conditions in Iowa. "We've got close to 2,500 poles down - over 500
miles of line down."
More than 83,000 customers were without power Sunday morning in
Illinois, utilities said. Crews for Mid American Energy reported ice 2
inches thick coating power lines in Illinois' Mercer County, said
spokesman Allan Urlis.
On the Plains, Colorado and Kansas on Sunday reopened Interstate 70, a
major cross-country route. The highway had been closed for about 400
miles in both directions since Saturday from just east of Denver to
Salina, Kan., because of blowing snow and slippery pavement.
The National Weather Service reported 7-foot snowdrifts in western Kansas.
As much as 2 feet of snow fell around Winona, Minn., and some local
hotels were so full of stalled travelers they had to turn people away.
The Holiday Inn let people sleep on couches, cots and even the floor,
exhausting its supply of extra blankets and pillows.
"We just tried to fit people in as much as we could," hotel employee
Chrissy Rybarczyk told the Winona Daily News.
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Associated Press writers F.N. D'Alessio and Carla K. Johnson in Chicago;
Chase Squires in Denver; Timberly Ross in Omaha, Neb.; Heather
Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Mo.; Mike Wilson in Des Moines, Iowa, and
Jon Gambrell in Dumas, Ark., contributed to this report.