UPDATE - US storm spreads ice, snow across 14 states
Date: 31-Jan-02
Country: USA
Oklahoma officials said two people died on the state's icy roads, including one person who was struck while helping victims of another traffic accident.
In Kansas all state business offices were ordered shut, with only essential personnel - including telephone operators and janitors - reporting for work.
Bobette Polter, an operator manning the phones at the lonely Kansas statehouse, was busy telling callers, "All local county and state offices are closed due to the weather."
"It has been sleeting, and we've gotten 6 inches (15.2 cm) of ice pellets," Polter said. "Starting at midday today, it's supposed to start snowing. I talked to city workers in Wichita, and they said the city is like an ice rink, it's so slippery. They're supposed to get 4 inches 10.1 cm of snow on top of that."
Schools, including the University of Kansas and Kansas State, were closed. Many schools were also closed in Kansas City, Missouri, after thick coating of ice hit the city.
In Oklahoma, up to an inch (2.5 cm) of ice coated trees and power lines in the state, causing 15,000 people to lose electricity, state emergency spokeswoman Michelann Ooten said.
"What we are seeing is a number of communities across the state that are experiencing everything from limited outages to some completely without power," she said. The storm was expected to worsen throughout the day, Ooten added.
The winter weather was a rude slap just days after unseasonal and sometimes record warmth in many parts of the country.
While only light snow was falling in Chicago some flights bound for O'Hare International Airport were delayed by more than an hour because of poor visibility and low clouds.
Forecasters said the storm was still developing and that freezing rain and heavier snow were likely, with the northeast feeling its impact on Thursday.
At mid-day Wednesday the storm stretched from the Texas panhandle across parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Hew Hampshire and Maine.
