Storm Rolls Through Midwest; Flights Canceled, Power Fails : Foot of Snow Falls; Electricity Out for Thousands

The snowstorm that staggered the western Plains rolled over the Midwest today, dumping up to a foot of snow, forcing airlines to cancel flights because of low visibility and sending cars sliding off icy highways.

Thousands of people in Missouri and Oklahoma still had no electricity since a Christmas ice storm ripped down power lines, and hundreds of residents of West Memphis, Ark., and Millington, Tenn., could not return to homes flooded Christmas morning.

On the western Plains, where up to 34 inches of snow fell without warning in the Colorado foothills, more than 100 miles of Interstate 25 remained closed by snowdrifts in Wyoming.

Snow Spreads East

Up to a foot of snow fell in parts of Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, with lesser amounts in Illinois, Michigan and Indiana, and snow with sleet and freezing rain spread across Ohio and into the Delaware-Maryland area.

The snowstorm’s arrival in northern Illinois today was punctuated by lightning and thunder. By midday six to nine inches of snow had accumulated.

United Airlines and American Airlines canceled many flights into and out of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The airport remained open but air traffic was “very light,” said Marjorie Kriz of the Federal Aviation Administration. At times visibility was only one-eighth of a mile, she said.

Denver Airport Closed

On Sunday, the storm closed Denver’s Stapleton International Airport for 7 1/2 hours, the airport’s first complete shutdown since 1983. (Story on Page 4.) Airport official Richard Boulware said a second runway was opened this morning, but delays ranged up to three hours.

In northwestern Illinois, about 150 people spent Sunday night stranded at Stockton High School because freezing rain that fell in advance of the snow covered highways with ice.

“On one stretch of roadway about six miles long we had about 30 or 40 cars abandoned after they became stranded and couldn’t get anywhere on the ice. The salt trucks had to go up and down the hills backward because that was the only way they could get any traction. Then more rain fell on top of the salt and froze,” said Jo Daviess County Sheriff Steve Allendorf.

Automobiles Abandoned

In the Chicago area, “We’ve got a lot of abandoned cars and a lot of cars sliding into other cars and into ditches and poles,” state Trooper Joe Giron said today.

The Fairmont, Minn., area got 14 to 15 inches of snow overnight.

Motel owner Ernie Wingen in Blue Earth, Minn., said he had no time to sleep during the night while he presided over his “40-40 Club”--40 rooms booked, 40 parties turned away.

“We have people sleeping all over the floors, in the lobby, down the hallways,” he said.