Posted on 11/28/2005 8:08:53 PM PST by Graybeard58
DENVER (AP) -- Travelers trying to get home after Thanksgiving were stranded across the Plains on Monday as the region's first big snowstorm of the season closed hundreds of miles of highways, cutting visibility to zero and piling up drifts 6 feet high.
Snow driven by wind up to 69 mph fell from North Dakota to the Texas Panhandle, shutting down schools, post offices and South Dakota state government.
Four deaths were blamed on slippery roads in South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, and a fifth person was killed when tornado picked up and hurled a car in Arkansas.
"It's not safe for anybody," said Sharon Rouse, owner of a towing service at Kearney, Neb.
More than 400 miles of eastbound Interstate 70 was closed, from Denver to Salina, Kan., with no word on when it might reopen. Westbound lanes were open in some areas.
"We're just waiting," said Corey Dagner, who was stuck in Limon, Colo., on his way home to Illinois after attending a wedding at the Breckenridge ski resort. "Nobody's sure what's going on and what time they're going to open the interstate."
Denver International Airport was spared, and had an estimated 158,000 travelers Sunday, one of the busiest travel days of the year. "We had some wind, that's it," said airport spokesman Chuck Cannon.
Motels in Limon, 70 miles east of Denver, filled up quickly Sunday night. About 50 people took refuge at First Baptist Church, sleeping on pews or in classrooms. Most left Monday morning in search of another route home.
"We're just a place where people get stranded in storms," pastor Rick Taylor said. It happens two or three times a year, he said.
The Colorado portion of I-70 was dry Monday, but the highway was impassable in western and central Kansas because visibility was nearly zero. Colorado halted eastbound traffic because there are so few places to stop and wait on the state's sparsely populated eastern plains.
Almost 1,000 people spent Sunday night in shelters along I-70, said Joy Moser, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management. Even though the blizzard warning for northwest and north-central Kansas expired Monday afternoon, shelters remained open in anticipation of more stranded travelers.
"You can't even see," said Bill Kanitig of the Sherman County, Kan., sheriff's office. "The highway is snowpacked, and it's slick and everybody's sliding off."
Numerous other highways also were closed across the Plains, including a 250-mile stretch of I-90 across South Dakota, and a 60-mile stretch of I-80 in Nebraska.
"This is probably the worst storm I've ever encountered," Terri Gosney said by telephone from a truck stop alongside I-90 in Mitchell, S.D., as she waited to resume her trip home to Minong, Wis.
Wind, snow and ice in the Dakotas snapped electrical lines - coating some cables with ice a few inches thick - and knocked out power to much of the eastern parts of the states. Electricity wasn't expected to be restored for some areas until at least Tuesday, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds said.
"For a lot of people in eastern South Dakota, this is going to be one of those days where it's going to be very, very, cold before the heat gets turned back on," Rounds said.
In Fairmount, N.D., electricians attempted to hook up generators to the town's water system on Monday afternoon. "There is no power to the well system," said Fairmount Fire Chief Dave Jacobson. "We still have water but it's getting pretty low here."
Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesman Kevin Smith said that despite the efforts to sand the major roads in northwestern parts of the state, "the wind is polishing the roads to glaze in about 20 minutes."
The storm was heading toward the Great Lakes and retaining most of its clout, said National Weather Service meteorologist Fred Stasser of Goodland, Kan.
"I would imagine they're going to get some of the same sort of deal," he said.
The same storm whipped up tornadoes that destroyed at least eight homes in Arkansas on Sunday and damaged more than 30 homes at Fort Riley, Kan.
Grass fires driven by the storm system's wind blackened thousands of acres in Texas and Oklahoma. Several homes were destroyed in the two states and hundreds of families had to evacuate in Oklahoma.
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Associated Press reporters Chet Brokaw in Pierre, S.D.; Chris Williams in Minneapolis, Minn.; and Dave Kolpack in Alexandria, Minn., contributed to this report.
Since Plains was capitalized, I thought they were stranded in Plains, Georgia, which WOULD be truly awful.
lol! That was my first "Plains" thought too.
. . . the horror! the horror! . . .
If it makes anyone feel any better, Eastern upstate NY got 5 inches on Thanksgiving. I hate snow. Hate. Hate. Hate.
The title, with the word "plains" capitalized, is as it appeared in the Denver Rocky Mountain News. I copied and pasted it.
For anyone who has never driven across this country, the stretch of I-70 and I-80 from eastern Wyoming and Colorado across western Nebraska and Kansas is really quite desolate. I've been delayed driving over some of the mountain passes in Montana and Colorado due to late spring snowstorms, but since I'm rarely on the road for long trips in the winter I've never gotten stuck out on the plains like this.
I was thinking the same. I remember a contest when Carter was President.
1st prize- a weekend in Plains GA
2nd prize- a week in Plains GA
3rd prize- 2 weeks in Plains GA
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Plains, Georgia
With the Memphis blues again.
On a trip from Wyoming through western Nebraska back in June on I-80, I passed a car with California plates pulled over and a man was outside the car with a camera. The idiot was taking pictures of three tornados that looked to be less than a quarter mile away.
I cranked it up to about 90 mph and there were people passing me. I've since wondered if the dumass got blown away.
I know...was just razzing, couldn't help myself. I read "Plains" and well, it went from there. Not making fun of you or the article or you at all...apologies if you took offense.
On my last westbound trip across the U.S. on I-80 in western Nebraska I got all bent out of shape because my SUV was pulling hard to the right -- only a couple of days after I got the front end aligned.
I pulled off the road for fuel some time later and experienced something completely foreign to the Northeast -- a hot, dry wind blowing so hard from the south that it was pushing my vehicle to the right. It was more than 90 degrees out -- and it was 10:00 at night.
By the time I got to Cheyenne the next morning it was about 45 degrees outside -- in August. That was some of the oddest weather I've ever come across in my travels.
No offense taken.
I didn't even notice that "plains" was capitalized until someone mentioned it.
My grandparents lived in Western Kansas years ago. I remember them telling stories of a blizzard that closed the roads for days. They found people dead in their cars when they finally able to clear the roads. It really made an impression on me as a young child, so much so that I didn't want to go there for Christmas for fear of blizzards.
I grew up in Eastern South Dakota and am keeping tabs on this storm as my parents still live there. We just skated out of there yesterday after a Thanksgiving visit.
Today, we were joking on the phone about when they thought FEMA would arrive. The horror! LOL
As a side note, I noticed one of the AP reporters is named Chet Brokaw. Son of Tom Brokaw, perhaps? Those as old as I am could make the Chet Huntley/Tom Brokaw connection name-wise.
If true, it figures he works for the Ass. Press.
I am curious too. I googled his name and all I found out is that he has written a lot of articles for the A.P.
I thought Plains, Texas.
What a difference a few days makes. Last week, the weather was gorgeous up to Thanksgiving. Good thing I missed all this excitement, flew into Kansas today from CA and had no problems, just a bumpy ride to Denver.
We are having a blizzard here in North Dakota tonight. The Interstates are closed and the power keeps flickering on and off.
They found people dead in their cars when they finally able to clear the roads.
That happens.
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