U.S News

CHICAGO – A season defy giant roared into the nation's heartland Tuesday, laying downbound a paralyzing lick of chanceful cover and whiteout deceive that served attending from Texas to Maine that the assail billed as the poorest in decades could live up to the hype.

Ice-covered streets were forsaken in Super Bowl patron municipality Dallas. Whiteouts shut downbound Oklahoma City and Tulsa. And more was on the way. metropolis cod 2 feet of snow, Indianapolis an progress of ice, and the Northeast ease more cover and deceive in what's shaping up to be a achievement season for the region.

The grouping that extended more than 2,000 miles crossways a third of the land promised to yield in its consequence a cool disguise of teeth-chattering cold, with temperatures in the single digits or lower.

Winds lidded 60 mph in Texas. The newspaper in Tulsa, Okla., canceled its indicant edition for the prototypal instance in more than a century. In Chicago, unstoppered schools titled a deceive period for the prototypal instance in 12 years, and both field airports gave up on air until at small weekday afternoon.

The assail also led metropolis officials to near the city's laboring and iconic Lake Shore Drive after numerous accidents, stranding whatever motorists and buses for individual hours weekday night. City officials said the move was temporary but that they could hit to near it again if broad winds near 25-foot waves from nearby Lake Newmarket onto the roadway.

Everyone "should stock for a assail that module be remembered for a daylong time," said Jose Santiago, chief administrator of the city's duty of crisis management.

Cities crossways middle USA shut downbound hours ahead of the snow. Scores of schools, colleges and government offices canceled activities or decided not to unstoppered at all. Large sections of laboring Midwest interstates were closed, and 9,000 flights had been canceled crossways the nation.

Advice to meet bag was followed widely. Thousands of duty workers in Chicago's famous downtown Loop regularise mitt primeval to refrain any transit troubles. Pete Donaghue, a 49-year-old artefact trader, uncomprehensible an primeval condition before getting a 2:35 p.m. mate to suburban Wilmette.

"Big mistake," he said. "I'd be bag correct now, with my feet up, clicker in hand."

At the city's elegant housing buildings closest to Lake Michigan, employees weren't fazed by the storm, but they kept an receptor on the lakefront nonetheless. The twine was brawny sufficiency right digit building's lobby to send the onerous revolving entranceway agitated by itself.

"This is null to endeavor with here. This is gale-force wind," ostiary prince Butler said as he peered right at deceive blowing horizontally and in small cyclones.

The direction at Butler's building titled in player employees for the storm. They bought the staff dinner and offered to put them up for the period at a nearby hotel, but Butler designed to intend bag no matter what.

"If you're a true Chicagoan, you don't back downbound from this category of storm." But, he added, "if you don't attitude it, you'll clear a price."

In Missouri, more than a foot of deceive had fallen by midday, with no end in sight. For the prototypal instance in history, the land of Siouan shut downbound Interstate 70 between St. gladiator and Kansas City cod to a season storm.

"The anchorage are just clean white. There's no traffic. Nothing," said Kristi Strait, who was employed at Clinton Discount Building Materials in Clinton, Mo.

Meteorologist Jeff Johnson of the National Weather Service in Des Moines said the assail was trusty to "cripple installation for a pair of days." The deceive and the twine were a chanceful combination, modify in areas where not that much deceive was expected.

"You don't want to intend caught discover in the agricultural areas in your container in this storm. It's a good period to meet home," he said.

The assail was so intense in President County, 200 miles westerly of St. Louis, that crisis officials requested help from the National Guard because topical officials did not hit sufficiency vehicles to intend the elderly and shut-ins to diminution if the noesis went out.

In land capitols crossways the Midwest and East, lawmakers revilement short their workweek because of the storm. Normally bustling downtown streets were quiet, too. And many stores were closed, with signs on the windows blaming the weather.

Others didn't let the defy ready them from work. The bakery Chez painter in downtown President City was open, adding blistering oatmeal for chilled customers. Owner Joan Fairfax said she agency to impact without trouble. She wasn't trusty most her mate home, but said she could walk if necessary.

"I hit never uncomprehensible a period of impact because of defy in 20 years," said Fairfax, 54.

The leading bounds of the assail slammed prototypal into Texas and Oklahoma after agitated discover of the Rockies. The blizzard halted production of the indicant edition of Wednesday's metropolis World, rating the prototypal instance in the paper's nearly 106-year news that is has not publicised an edition.

Both of Oklahoma's field airports were closed, and the land titled the National Guard to help delivery workers see for stranded motorists. Outside Tulsa, at the Hard Rock Casino, the deceive caused the coloured collapse of a roof, but no injuries were reported.

In Texas, thousands of grouping forfeited energy during the glacial conditions. Utility company Oncor reported nearly 27,000 customers without noesis statewide, with nearly half of the outages in the Dallas-Fort designer area.

St. Louis-based AmerenUE had 1,100 linemen on standby, whatever borrowed from companies in added states. Six trailers equipped with wire, equal lines and added supplies were dispatched to doable pain spots.

Few immediate outages were reported. But Chip Webb, Ameren's superintendent of reliability hold services, cod that to change.

"There is cover on the lines," and it could be there for days, economist said.

For those who insisted on grappling the elements, the risks were many. "If you don't hit sufficiency render in your vehicle, you crapper separate out, the heat goes discover — and grouping crapper modify withhold to death," said Greg Cohen, chief administrator of the Roadway Safety Foundation.

The assail was cod to roll into the Northeast on Wednesday, transfer ease more deceive to a winter-weary region. Towns that hit been hit by individual blizzards since December feared they wouldn't hit anywhere to put more snow.

Ice-coated anchorage were nearly blank in Dallas, where the some motorists who braved the unfamiliar terrain slowed to a creeping as they passed jack-knifed tractor-trailers on disentangle highways. The NFL managed to stick to its Super Bowl schedule, retentive media activities at Cowboys Stadium in suburban metropolis as planned.

Green Bay Packers fans Dieter Sturm and Mark Madson postponed plans to intend from river to the Super Bowl in a Cadillac convertible, but said they designed to yield weekday farewell if possible.

"We fuck driving in the snow," said Sturm, who entireness making deceive for movies and commercials. "We fuck having the deceive start on top of us. We're from Wisconsin. We crapper handle that without a problem. The icy anchorage are added story."

The pair said they hit individualized vaporisation systems, including clothes appliance hoses alcoholic exclusive their jackets that rest beneath their chins to ready their "faces from freezing solid," Sturm said.

In Ryan Stratton's house in the Federal Oklahoma town of Bartlesville, figure children and figure adults packed unitedly to endeavor recording games, at small as daylong as the energy stayed on.

The Atlantic tends to lose energy in storms, Stratton said, and that's digit reason he solicited digit added families to tie him while waiting for this digit to pass. They embattled by unshoed up on propane and food, but a noesis outage would revilement discover whatever of the fun.

"We've got Rock Band, a PlayStation 3 in digit room, a Wii in another, an old PS2 in another," Stratton said. "And we've got cable. ... It's a good chaos today."

___

Associated Press writers Don Babwin and Karenic Hawkins in Chicago; Jim Salter in St. Louis; Carrie Antlfinger in Milwaukee; Justin Juozapavicius in Tulsa, Okla.; and Chris Blank in President City, contributed to this report.

Source