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Blizzard blasts upper Midwest
Does the end of the world start with a snowstorm?
Probably not, but a blizzard in the upper Midwest is proving potent enough to cut power to tens of thousands of homes and force schools to call it quits from Nebraska to southern Wisconsin Thursday — one day ahead of the official arrival of winter and, as it happens, the predicted Mayan apocalypse.
Blinding snow also is blamed for a 30-car pileup on Interstate 35 near Fort Dodge, Iowa, in which two people died, including a 43-year-old Arkansas woman, Sgt. Scott Bright of the Iowa State Patrol said Wednesday.
As much as another foot of wet, heavy snow is expected in places, accompanied by winds gusting to 50 mph and blowing snow that could reduce visibility to just about zero, forecasters warn.
In Omaha, Nebraska, utility crews struggled overnight — sometimes in near whiteout conditions — to restore power to 38,500 customers left in the dark by the storm, according to the Omaha Public Power District. The utility urged customers to brace for slow going.
“Assessment crews and repair crews are out in force and will be as long as it takes to get through storm and all is cleaned up,” said Omaha Public Power District spokeswoman Paula Lukowski.
In neighboring Iowa, more than 30,000 customers were without power, most of them in the Des Moines area, according to MidAmerican Energy.
The storm — the first blizzard of the season — made travel treacherous throughout the region. Nebraska authorities closed much of snow-packed Interstate 80 through the state Thursday morning as blowing snow dangerously reduced visibility.
I-80 also was closed around Des Moines, Iowa, Bright said.
“When the winds start to blow you can see about 5 feet in front of your vehicle” he said. “We’ve had major issues all over the place. We got around 10 to 12 inches throughout the state and it’s a wet snow. We have around an inch of ice on our roadways.”
More: http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/20/us/midwest…?hpt=hp_t3
2012-12-20 15:35:45
Source: http://yeoldefalseflag.com/thread-blizzard-blasts-upper-midwest
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