Colossal Storm Paralyzes Midwest As It Moves East

Blizzard conditions stretching from Texas to Maine have paralyzed travel in major cities across the nation's mid-section, closing airports and schools and leaving downtowns looking like snow-covered deserts.

The storm — billed as the worst in decades — unleashed most of its fury on the heartland, bringing Chicago and the rest of the Midwest to a standstill.

For the first time in history, Missouri's Interstate 70 between St. Louis and Kansas City was shut down due to a winter storm. Public schools in Chicago called a snow day for the first time in 12 years, and the newspaper in Tulsa, Okla., canceled its print edition for the first time in more than a century.

Snow was still falling on much of the nation's midsection as of Wednesday morning. Michigan was expected to get more than 1 foot, Indianapolis an inch of ice, and the Northeast still more ice and snow.

NPR's Midwest correspondent, Cheryl Corley, said about 17 inches had fallen in the Chicago area so far and that another six inches were expected — for a total of nearly 2 feet of snow.
A vehicle is stranded on Interstate 43 Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011, in Grafton, Wi. The area is under a blizzard warning and some freeways were shut down.
Enlarge Jeffrey Phelps/Associated Press

A vehicle is stranded on Interstate 43 Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011, in Grafton, Wi. The area is under a blizzard warning and some freeways were shut down.
A vehicle is stranded on Interstate 43 Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011, in Grafton, Wi. The area is under a blizzard warning and some freeways were shut down.
Jeffrey Phelps/Associated Press

A vehicle is stranded on Interstate 43 Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011, in Grafton, Wi. The area is under a blizzard warning and some freeways were shut down.

"There are lots of big drifts," Corley said. "I can tell you that in a city that's typically bustling at this time of the morning, it's a ghost town."

She said that despite the worst storm in years to hit the Windy City, "the street plows have been able to do a credible job" of clearing the main roads.

The storm led Chicago officials to close the city's Lake Shore Drive after a series of accidents, stranding some motorists and buses for several hours overnight. The city's office of emergency management said crews were still struggling to get everyone off the roadway early Wednesday morning and some people had abandoned their cars.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley cautioned the city's residents to travel only if necessary and to check on elderly or shut-in friends and family. Colleges, including Eastern Illinois University, Bradley University and the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign told students there would be no classes Wednesday.

Thousands of flight have been cancelled throughout the Midwest, with United Airlines and American Airlines saying they will not flying out of Chicago's O'Hare — one of the nation's busiest hubs — until Thursday.
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Jeff Hess, general manager of the Holiday Inn at Chicago's Midway airport, which has also been closed, told NPR that guests booked on cancelled flights were planning to stay at least one more night, but that the hotel was prepared.

"The hotel is always equipped with a three-day emergency supply such as water and batteries," he said. "From a food-service standpoint, we went and upped our stores in advance of the storm on Monday, just in case."

The colossal storm has caused power outages across the region, with utility crews in hard-hit Illinois making some progress restoring electricity to nearly 90,000 homes and businesses left in the dark. More than 28,000 people were without electricity from Peoria to St. Louis.

Forecasters warned that ice accumulations could knock down tree limbs and cause further power outages across the affected region.

In Oklahoma, Frank Gresh with the Oklahoma City Ambulance Service said one of the big problems there was vehicles abandoned in the snow.

"In one case, we had a crew get out with cots and equipment and walk several blocks to get to the house where the patient was located," he said.

Wisconsin Emergency Management spokesman Tod Pritchard said there had been drifts of 10 feet to 15 feet in some areas.
A stop sign pokes out of a large pile of snow at the end of a street in Enfield, Conn., on Tuesday.
Enlarge Jessica Hill/AP

A stop sign pokes out of a large pile of snow at the end of a street in Enfield, Conn., on Tuesday.
A stop sign pokes out of a large pile of snow at the end of a street in Enfield, Conn., on Tuesday.
Jessica Hill/AP

A stop sign pokes out of a large pile of snow at the end of a street in Enfield, Conn., on Tuesday.

"This is one of those blizzards of a lifetime and you shouldn't mess with it," he told NPR. "It's dangerous and staying home is really the safest thing to do."

In New York, officials preemptively banned tandem-trucks of all sizes from a major interstate. New York City residents were urged to use mass transit and to clear snow and ice from fire hydrants.

In Vermont, forecasters expected the snow to last through Thursday, adding to a large buildup of from previous storms, especially in the south of the state.

By the time the enormous weather system dissipates, it could affect as many as 100 million Americans, forecasters said.

For those who insisted on braving the elements, the risks were many. "If you don't have enough fuel in your vehicle, you can run out, the heat goes out - and people can even freeze to death," said Greg Cohen, executive director of the Roadway Safety Foundation.

Cities across middle America shut down hours ahead of the snow. Scores of schools, colleges and government offices canceled activities or decided not to open at all. Thousands of flights were canceled across the nation.

The NFL did manage to stick to its Super Bowl schedule, holding media activities at Cowboys Stadium in suburban Arlington as planned, though the city's ice-covered streets were deserted.

With reporting from NPR's Cheryl Corley and David Shaper in Chicago, Ross Sneyd of Vermont Public Radio and Ann-Elise Henzl of WUWM in Milwaukee. Material from The Associated Press was used in this story.