3 killed, travel disrupted as storm leaves ice, snow

December 17, 2007|Associated Press

Motorists slid off roads, airline flights were canceled, and at least three people were killed yesterday as a snow and ice storm raged from the Great Lakes states to the Northeast.

The National Weather Service posted winter storm warnings from Michigan and Indiana to the East Coast.

About a foot of snow fell on parts of the Chicago area and Ann Arbor, Mich. Meteorologists said there was a chance of 14 inches in parts of Michigan.

Slippery roads were blamed for two traffic deaths in Michigan and one in Wisconsin.

The storm packed high winds that lowered visibility and brought down power lines across the region. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said the storm cut power to about 160,000 customers yesterday.

Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey said 1,000 trucks were out clearing snow there yesterday.

The storm canceled hundreds of flights at airports in Chicago, Buffalo, and other Northeast cities. New York's Kennedy International and New Jersey's Newark Liberty reported delays.

The storm came less than a week after an ice storm blamed for at least 38 deaths, mostly in traffic accidents, in the middle of the country. Thousands of homes and businesses still had no electricity in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri.

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