December 13, 2007
By Pat Eaton-Robb
AP
COLUMBIA, Conn. — A deadly winter storm that left the nation's midsection coated in ice blew east Thursday, while crews worked to restore power to hundreds of thousands of people in the places it already hit.
Photo: Lance McClintock of Long, Okla., works on getting a fire started to cook chicken as his wife Melissa looks on Monday. The couple was among the hundreds of thousands who lost power in the Midwest ice storm. If these and the other 1,000,000 people without power had purchased and knew how to use home generators and store fuel safely, they would be warm and comfortable, cooking inside. In times of prolonged power outages - especially in winter - there are always deaths reported directly in association with improperly used generators. At no time should generators ever be operated indoors! People were warned it may be up to 10 days before power is restored. Due to improperly used generators, more than 70 people have been treated for carbon monoxide poisoning in Oklahoma and at least two have died. (EPA)
Some parts of the Northeast could receive up to a foot of snow, forecasters said. Schools in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announced closures, in some cases before flakes even began to fall.
"We're definitely trying to discourage travel," said National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Maloit.
Snow started falling at midmorning in Connecticut and almost immediately caused havoc on the highways. State police responded to so many accidents that they could not log them all because their computer system was overwhelmed. Many employers sent workers home early, and state police advised drivers to stay off the road.
"We're having, I won't say a crisis, but we have an abundance of crashes literally all across the state on main and secondary roads," said state police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance. "It really is pretty dangerous, so we would strongly advise people to stay off the roads, stay home."
In Columbia, Sebby Randazzo saw a steady stream of customers at his liquor store, The Columbia Package Store, as customers stocked up while the snow started falling.
"Before the snow starts and for the first hour or so people want to load up for their snow parties," he said. "They want to gather around the fire with a glass or wine, or have a beer with their buddies, or maybe after they shovel snow for a while they come in and have a beverage."
Next door at the Rose Brothers Garage, the snowstorm will also mean more business for owner David Rose. He planned to close early Thursday, but said he should be plenty busy in a few days.
"We'll have a lot of collision repair, batteries, tires and a lot of things people realize they needed, wipers for the snow," he said. "Usually when they slide off the road and into a collision is when they realize they should have gotten tires sooner."
The storm was blamed for 33 deaths, mostly in traffic accidents, as it moved through the middle of the country. In Oklahoma, at least 350,932 homes and businesses still were without power early Thursday, officials said.
Photo: A sign on the front of a Home Depot store in Oklahoma City, Dec. 11, 2007, advises customers of the supplies they have already sold out of. With no power, the store is operating on cash-only basis for those needing supplies. A winter storm has coated much of Oklahoma in ice, knocking out power to more than 400,000 home and businesses. (AP)
HOLLY NOTE: This is a vivid example of why it's vital to keep cash on hand in small demoninations. With the majority of cash registers automatically figuring change due customers, many checkers are hard-pressed to do this basic math. Make sure to check your change for the correct amount received.
As with most major disasters, generators are one of the first items to sell out. Generators were flown to New Orleans during the 2005 Katrina disaster from as far away as California untill all supplies ran dry. However, doing without power is especially dangerous and difficult in winter.
Northeast airports were bracing for travel problems. At New York's airports, some airlines were allowing passengers to reschedule their flights free of charge. At Connecticut's largest airport, near Hartford, a dozen flights had been canceled as of 9 a.m., said John Wallace, an airport spokesman.
In Yorktown, N.Y., Mitchell Hardware sold more than 25 shovels Wednesday — nearly twice as many as it usually sells in a week, said assistant manager Mike Malone.
Sunshine and milder temperatures on Thursday should help cleanup efforts in much of the Plains, but another winter storm approaching from the west could dump heavy snow on parts of Oklahoma on Friday.
On Wednesday, Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry toured an upscale, historic neighborhood in northwest Oklahoma City where debris from trees felled by the ice littered lawns and roadways. He called the storm one of "absolute historic proportions."
More than two dozen shelters were set up at churches and community centers across the Oklahoma for people needing a warm place to stay. Exhibit halls at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City were turned into a shelter Wednesday capable of housing more than 700 people.
Wayne Wooldridge lasted only one cold, dark night in the frigid house he volunteered to watch for his son, who is deployed overseas for the U.S. Air Force.
"I can get bundled up pretty warm in the house, but there was no light at night," Wooldridge, 68, said Wednesday at a shelter. "We get spoiled."
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has declared disaster areas in five counties. In southern Iowa's Wayne County, where power was out for much of the region, officials set up six shelters, said Bill Yeager, emergency management coordinator. Officials
Industrial-size generators, bottled water, plastic sheeting to cover 2,000 damaged roofs, and blankets arrived Wednesday via the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was authorized by President Bush's emergency disaster declaration to help all 77 Oklahoma counties clean up.
At the John 3:16 Mission in Tulsa, a lottery is held each day to determine who gets a bed, and the facility is scrambling every bed, mattress and bench it has to accommodate people, said The Rev. Steve Whitaker, executive director at the mission.
"It's gut-wrenching to turn those guys away," he said.
Contributing: Associated Press writers Ula Ilnytzky in New York, Rochelle Hines in Oklahoma City, Nafeesa Syeed in Des Moines, and Sofia Mannos in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/winter/2007-12-13-winter-storm_N.htm