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Ice Storm Cuts Power to Thousands in Midwesteren US
Storm's Death Toll Hits 46 in 7 States
The Associated Press, Jan 16, 2007
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Power lines were down, highways were treacherous and spring-like temperatures were only a memory Tuesday in parts of the Northeast in the wake of the storm that earlier had plastered the Midwest and Plains with a heavy shell of ice.
The death toll from the storm was at least 46 in seven states.
The weight of the ice snapped tree limbs, shorted out transformers and made power lines sag, knocking out current to about 145,000 customers in New York state and New Hampshire on Monday, though service had been restored for roughly half of them by Tuesday morning.
"If you live here long enough, you just know the power's going to go out twice a year, at least. You don't worry about it," said Scott Towne, owner of Rondac Pet Services near Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where portable generators provided light and heat for about two-dozen dogs. "You make all the plans in advance that you can."
Scores of schools canceled classes or opened late Tuesday in New Hampshire and upstate New York in the Northeast and Oklahoma and Texas on the southern Plains.
The storm had largely blown out of New England by Tuesday morning, leaving up 10 inches of snow in western Maine.
A wave of arctic air trailed the storm, dropping temperatures into the single digits as far south as Kansas and Missouri. The 7 a.m. temperature Tuesday at Kansas City, Mo., was just 2 degrees, while Bismarck, N.D., had a reading of 16 below zero, with a wind chill of 31 below, the National Weather Service reported.
Cold air also was moving into the East, where temperatures have been far above normal in recent weeks and the ground has been bare of snow. Instead of skiers, the unseasonable weather has drawn out golfers and bicyclists.
Icy roads cut into Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observances from Albany, N.Y., to Austin, Texas, where officials in both states canceled gubernatorial inauguration parades Tuesday.
More power outages were possible in New Hampshire as wind battered ice-laden branches. "We are restoring some and adding more," Public Service Co. spokeswoman Mary-Jo Boisvert said Tuesday morning. Some New York customers might have to wait until Thursday, the utility National Grid estimated.
In hard-hit Missouri, the utility company Ameren said it would probably not have everyone's lights back on until Wednesday night. As of Tuesday morning, about 215,000 homes and businesses still had no electricity.
The White House said Tuesday that 34 Missouri counties and St. Louis had been declared a major disaster area, making federal funding available. A similar federal disaster declaration was approved Sunday for Oklahoma.
About 100,000 homes and businesses were still waiting for power Tuesday in Oklahoma, some of them waiting since the storm's first wave struck on Friday. Ice built up by sleet and freezing rain was 4 inches thick in places. The Army Corps of Engineers assigned soldiers to deliver 100 emergency generators to the McAlester area.
Customers in some rural parts of Oklahoma might have to wait until next week for service, said Stan Whiteford of Public Service Co. of Oklahoma. "There are a lot of places where virtually everything is destroyed. In some cases, entire electric services will have to be rebuilt," he said.
More than 200,000 customers in Michigan also lost power and about 86,000 of them were still blacked out Tuesday.
Waves of freezing rain, sleet and snow since Friday had been blamed for at least 17 deaths in Oklahoma, eight in Missouri, eight in Iowa, four in New York, five in Texas, three in Michigan and one in Maine.
Elsewhere, Washington state's Puget Sound area, known for off-and-on drizzle rather than freezing winter weather, was hit by another round of snow Tuesday, snarling traffic and closing schools for more than 380,000 students. The Oregon Legislature delayed hearings and sessions until afternoon because of the weather.
In California, three nights of freezing weather had destroyed up to three-quarters of the state's $1 billion citrus crop, according to an estimate issued Monday. Other crops, including avocados and strawberries, also suffered damage.
"This is one of those freezes that, unfortunately, we'll all remember," said A.G. Kawamura, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
© 2007 The Associated Press.
Ice storm now hitting New England
Some in Northeast join hundreds of thousands without power in Mo., Okla.
The Associated Press, Jan 15, 2007
ST. LOUIS - The death toll from a powerful winter storm rose to 36 across six states Monday, as the Northeast started feeling the punch and utility crews labored to restore service to hundreds of thousands of people in Missouri and Oklahoma enduring cold weather without electricity for heat and lights.
Ice-covered roads cut into Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observances from New York to Texas, where officials canceled Gov. Rick Perry`s inauguration parade scheduled for Tuesday.
Lower Michigan and parts of New England could see more than a foot of snow Monday, as rain fell from the lower Mississippi Valley up through the Ohio Valley, The National Weather Service said.
As the storm blew across the lower Great Lakes and northern New England on Monday, a layer of ice up to a half-inch thick knocked out power to more than 50,000 customers in northern New York and was blamed for dozens of traffic accidents, authorities officials said. Day cares and schools also closed.
A King holiday appearance in Albany, N.Y., by Gov. Eliot Spitzer was canceled because the weather prevented him from flying or driving north from New York City.
The ice accumulation also blacked out at least 4,500 customers in New Hampshire, but in the northern part of the state ski areas were celebrating their first significant snowfall of the season.
On the back side of the storm, snow in Iowa closed some schools Monday.
In Missouri, about 330,000 homes and businesses had no electricity Sunday night. State officials did not have a new estimate Monday morning, but Ameren`s share of those outages had dropped from 130,000 to 98,000, spokeswoman Susan Gallager said. However, that figure included about 13,000 new outages in central Missouri.
Waves of freezing rain, sleet and snow since Friday caused at least 15 deaths in Oklahoma, eight in Missouri, five in Iowa, three in Texas and four in New York and one in Maine.
Crews hoped to take advantage of moderate weather expected for Monday including a few lingering snow showers and flurries to bring power back online before an expected drop in temperatures to below zero Monday night.
Most of the outages a majority in southwest Missouri were caused when freezing rain caused tree branches to break off and crash onto power lines, officials said.
National guardsmen went door-to-door checking on the health and safety of residents in the hardest hit parts of the state and helping to clear slick roads.
Amtrak canceled Sunday service between Kansas City and St. Louis due to fallen trees and other debris on railroad tracks.
Three rain pulses
In the St. Louis region, about 150,000 people remained without power Sunday afternoon, after a pattern of freezing and thaws.
"We`ve had three real pushes of rainfall," said National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Kramper.
One was Friday, one Saturday and a third came Sunday afternoon and persisted into the evening.
About 122,000 customers lacked power in Oklahoma as of Sunday night, the state Department of Emergency Management said. A gymnasium roof collapsed in Del City, Okla., under the weight of ice and snow, but no one was inside or injured, authorities said.
Seven adults were killed early Sunday near Elk City, Okla., when the minivan they were in hit a slick spot on Interstate 40, crossed the median and hit a tractor-trailer, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.
Late Sunday, President Bush declared a federal disaster for Oklahoma because of the storm.
Dallas flights canceled
In Texas, the weather and the need to de-ice aircraft prompted the cancellation of 100 scheduled departures Monday morning at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, DFW Airport spokesman Ken Capps said. More than 400 flights were canceled there Sunday.
In Nebraska, which has been pummeled by winter storms in the past month, the weekend storm dropped even more snow, making roads treacherous.
As the storm began to fade from the nation's midsection, parts of the East began to suffer.
In Albany, N.Y., a 22-year-old died when he fell about 90 feet from a bridge to a road below after climbing a railing to avoid being hit by a sliding car. He had gotten out of his vehicle around 2 a.m. after a crash.
In Syracuse, N.Y., Interstate 81 was closed for about two hours after about 30 cars were involved in six accidents early Sunday. Several people were taken to hospitals.
Elsewhere, a weekend cold snap that had worried citrus growers and other farmers in California produced rare freezing temperatures Monday in southern Arizona. The 8 a.m. reading in Phoenix was 29, the weather service said.
During the weekend, the cold had frozen water pipes in the Phoenix area and flooded shelters with homeless people.
"This is something that we don't think about much here," said Ken Kroski, spokesman for the Phoenix Water Services Department, which was flooded with calls about burst pipes.
© 2007 The Associated Press
Ice storm grips nation's midsection
115,000 homes without power; frigid temps reach California; 7 dead
The Associated Press, Jan 13, 2007
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A crippling winter storm lashed the central part of the nation with another blast of freezing rain, sleet and snow Saturday, causing widespread power outages and tying up highways and airports.
The storm was expected to continue through the weekend, laying down a coat of ice and snow from Texas to Illinois, where an ice storm warning was in effect through Monday morning.
"We're in the middle of this storm," said Joe Pedigo, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in St. Louis. "Friday was the first of three waves."
Farther west, frigid arctic air reached as far south as southern and central California, where plunging temperatures prompted worry about the homeless and crops.
The storm in the Midwest had been blamed for at least seven deaths, and brought Amtrak service in Missouri to a halt on Saturday. Trees and other debris knocked down by the weight of ice blocked tracks at several locations between St. Louis and Kansas City.
About 115,000 homes and businesses had no electricity Saturday in the St. Louis area.
"We have hundreds of crews. We kept them working all night long," Susan Gallagher, a spokeswoman for the utility Ameren, said Saturday. "Like everyone, we don`t know what the extent of damage will be with the arrival of more ice."
Between 60,000 and 70,000 customers were without power in Springfield, Mo., Saturday, plus an unknown number of homes and businesses in surrounding towns, said Jenny Fillmer Edwards, spokeswoman for the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management.
Shelters open for those at risk
Roads in southwest Missouri began freezing after sunset. Two shelters in Springfield filled Saturday and emergency officials planned to open one more. There were also three shelters for people with special needs and medical conditions.
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and Texas Gov. Rick Perry activated their National Guard members on Saturday. Blunt, who also declared a state of emergency, said the worst wave may come Sunday.
In San Marcos, Texas, a tornado damaged at least 13 homes, several businesses and the police headquarters. Fallen power lines blocked a section of Interstate 35 until crews could remove them, said Melissa Millecam, communications manager for the city, 30 miles south of Austin.
"Its a good bit of damage," she said. "It`s still stormy and we`ve got power outages in different places."
More than 6 inches of rain fell in places across central Texas, causing local flooding. Water also blocked three highways in southeastern Oklahoma, the Department of Transportation reported.
Weather halts flights, games
About 300 flights were canceled Saturday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, spokesman David Magana said. Cancellations also were reported in St. Louis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Tulsa.
In Oklahoma, about 92,450 customers were without power early Saturday, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said.
© 2007 The Associated Press
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