At least 1,000 motorists were stranded on icy Interstate 20,
east of Abilene, Texas on Thursday
(CNN) -- Power
outages and slick roads lingered in the south-central United States
Thursday as a storm system moved into the northern Plains, and
the Northeast prepared for what could be a major snowstorm this
weekend.
Winter storm
warnings were in effect across a wide swath of the United States,
from Montana down to Arkansas and across to Maryland and West
Virginia.
An ice storm
warning for southern Arkansas was canceled on Thursday morning,
but hundreds of thousands of people remain without power.
Winter storm
warnings were also called off in Texas, but driving remained treacherous
on ice and snow-covered roads.
Traffic was
moving again Thursday afternoon on Ranger Hill, a steep incline
on Interstate 20 west of Fort Worth. The Texas Department of Public
Safety estimated that 1,000 people were stuck there Wednesday
night after a stretch of the highway was closed because of icy
conditions. The Texas National Guard used Humvees and all-terrain
vehicles to reach the stranded motorists, and state police provided
food and gasoline to motorists to keep their engine and heaters
running.
Some of the
stranded motorists were taken to shelters, churches and even the
Eastland County jail.
"Traffic
was backed up for 14 miles, people were in ditches and their gas
was running out," said Brandy Johnson, who was taken to a
shelter in Eastland County.
Hundreds of
flights were canceled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
In Nebraska,
a Greyhound bus carrying 39 people skidded out of control and
rolled over on an icy stretch of Interstate 80 early Thursday,
injuring 29 people including five who were admitted to hospitals.
The northern
Plains were expected to get the worst of it on Thursday. Up to
8 inches of snow was forecast for parts of North Dakota and Minnesota,
and the National Weather Service warned that strong wind would
create blowing snow later in the day. North Dakota drivers were
advised to stay off the roads early Thursday after ice and blowing
snow created dangerous conditions. Some arriving flights at Minneapolis-St.
Paul International Airport were delayed several hours.
Snow was also
expected in southern Wisconsin, eastern Iowa and northwestern
Illinois by Thursday night.
To the east,
travelers in western Maryland and eastern West Virginia were advised
to watch out for slippery roads and blowing snow until Thursday
afternoon.
Northeast
gets ready
The Northeast was the focus for the coming weekend, as two storms
were expected to come together.
The storm
system that wreaked havoc on the southern Plains was bringing
rain to the Southeast on Thursday. That storm was then expected
to move up the East Coast, while the storm in the northern Plains
moved through the Great Lakes.
Forecasters
said the two storms would merge over the East Coast by Saturday,
and possibly form a "nor'easter", a storm with strong
winds blowing from the northeast. A nor'easter can produce extensive
damage along coastlines similar to some Category One hurricanes
and bring wind, heavy rain, snow and ice inland.
Sub-freezing
temperatures and heavy snow were forecast for New York and parts
of New England, and travel delays were expected.
Still in the
dark
About 550,000 homes and businesses in the south-central United
States were still without power because of the storm, which arrived
as an unwelcome Christmas guest and hasn't left.
Entergy Arkansas
said it had 4,000 workers on the job, but it might be January
5 before power is restored to everyone. Some 275,000 customers
in Arkansas still had no electricity on Thursday morning.
Arkansas Gov.
Mike Huckabee asked government workers to try to make it to work
on Thursday. The state government was shut down Wednesday.
Many people
lost telephone or water service as the storm brought down telephone
lines and power outages disabled municipal water pumps.
The thermal
springs that give Hot Springs, Arkansas, its name also became
the city's only source of water. A falling tree knocked down a
power cable, cutting off the city's water treatment plant. Water
service was restored to most of the city early Thursday, but residents
were advised to boil their water before using it for drinking
or cooking.
Utility worker Chuck Hauenstein fixes a damaged power line
in Ada, Oklahoma, on Wednesday
Kevin Byrd
said he had to use a chain saw to cut his way to the downtown
taps. "It looked like a tornado had been through," he
said. "The biggest thing about it is not having power. Then
you don't have your water pump."
In Texarkana,
which straddles the Texas-Arkansas line, officials ordered a nighttime
curfew, required contractors to register with the city and imposed
a price-gouging ban on everything from bread to home repairs.
"Everywhere
you look, trees are snapped like matchsticks. Power lines are
down everywhere and most of the streets are impassable because
we don't know which lines are live," said Texarkana resident
Nita Fran Hutcheson, who has had no water or electricity at her
home since Monday.
14 deaths
blamed on storm
Fourteen deaths have been blamed on the weather since Monday;
four in New Mexico, nine in Texas and one in Missouri. In that
state, a 13-year-old girl was killed in Arnold after the pickup
truck she was riding in went over the side of a bridge and plunged
50 feet into a river.
In Little
Rock, Arkansas, Dave Kaffenberger closed off a few rooms of his
house and gathered his family around the hearth after an ice storm
knocked out the electricity. "We lit a half-dozen candles
and played Clue by candlelight," Kaffenberger said in his
darkened home Wednesday. "It's an extended Christmas. That's
the way I'm looking at it."
In Oklahoma,
Gov. Frank Keating declared the entire state a disaster area,
and people without heat headed to shelters.
In the town
of Ada, about half the town's residents remained without drinking
water or power after as falling tree limbs continued to cause
problems, Assistant Police Chief Rick Carson said Wednesday.
"Even
though there's not much wind, the limbs are just giving up and
going down through the power lines," he said.
"Tell
everyone to stay out of Oklahoma. We have power outages throughout
the state; we have crashes everywhere," state Trooper Brett
Wallace told Reuters.
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