Severe Snowstorms Blamed for 9 Deaths, Outages
Pastor Dale Morgan
Severe Snowstorms Blamed for 9 Deaths, Outages*
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER,
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE - Highways were hazardous for holiday travelers Sunday and
thousands of homes and businesses had no electricity in the Midwest as a
storm blustered through the region with heavy snow and howling wind.
At least nine deaths had been blamed on the storm.
Winter storm warnings were posted for parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and
Michigan on Sunday as the core of the storm headed north across the
Great Lakes. Parts of Wisconsin already had a foot of snow, and up to a
foot was forecast Sunday in northeastern Minnesota, the National Weather
Service said.
Radar showed snow falling across much of Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota
on Sunday and moving into parts of Michigan and Indiana.
"Everything is just an ice rink out there," Rock County Sheriff's
Sergeant Steve Selby said Sunday morning.
The weather system also spread locally heavy rain on Sunday from the
Southeast to the lower Great Lakes.
The storm rolled through Colorado and Wyoming on Friday, then spread
snow and ice on Saturday from the Texas Panhandle to Minnesota.
Multi-car pileups closed parts of several major highways Saturday in the
Plains states.
The area of Madison, Wis., got three to four hours of freezing rain
early Sunday, said weather service meteorologist intern Bill Borghoff at
Sullivan. The combination of icy pavement and gusty wind made driving
treacherous, he said.
"It's quite a mess out there," Borghoff said.
Wind gusting to more than 50 mph uprooted trees in parts of Michigan. "I
can see the snow moving basically sideways," meteorologist Wayne Hoepner
said in Grand Rapids.
At Chicago's Midway Airport, winds reached 68 mph Sunday morning, said
weather service meteorologist Bill Nelson. They were blowing at 50 mph
across the region, he said.
Because of the wind, airlines canceled 150 flights Sunday at Chicago's
O'Hare International Airport, the city Aviation Department said.
Municipal officials said the wind had knocked out almost 60 traffic
signals, and there were nearly 500 reports of fallen trees and limbs.
More than 11,000 homes and businesses were without power at some point
Saturday in Wisconsin because of the freezing rain, ice, gusty wind and
heavy snow, utilities said. Michigan utilities reported some 92,000
customers were still without power Sunday afternoon, and in Illinois
about 46,000 customers were blacked out.
At least three people in Minnesota, three in Wyoming and one person each
in Texas, Kansas and Wisconsin were killed in traffic accidents that
authorities said stemmed from the storm.
The fatality in Texas came in a chain-reaction pileup involving more
than 50 vehicles, including several tractor-trailer rigs, on Interstate
40, police said. At least 16 people were taken to hospitals, Sgt.
Michael Poston said.
"We're not really sure how many cars, probably in excess of 40 cars and
in excess of 20 semitrailers," Amarillo police Sgt. Greg Fisher said Sunday.
Many were holiday travelers, including families with small children not
dressed for the weather, Sgt. Shawn McLeland said. Other drivers opened
their own Christmas presents to provide warmer clothing for the children.
Authorities believe the pileup, which shut down the highway for most of
the day, was caused by near zero visibility in blowing snow and slippery
pavement. Multi-vehicle wrecks on Saturday also blocked sections of I-70
in Kansas and I-29 in Missouri.