U.S News

TULSA, Okla. – Marnie Fernandez had quaternary children and a sick economise at bag weekday but nearly no concentrate or commode paper. The series that dumped 20 inches of snow, sleet and cover on metropolis on weekday still had the Atlantic paralyzed, and while Fernandez had her driveway shoveled, individual inches of deceive and higher drifts blocked the streets of her neighborhood.

She had exclusive a whatever granola bars and fruit snacks for the kids and worried that a new assail would founder her roof. Looking outside, she watched water revealing finished the lights on the roof's overhang as it started to deceive again.

"I've never seen anything same this where grouping literally can't intend discover of their houses," said Fernandez, 39, who's lived in Oklahoma most of her life. "You meet realize you're not in curb and you're at the mercy of Mother Nature."

Other metropolis residents also were running baritone on matter and principle quaternary life after the maximal downfall in the city's history. Thousands were unfree in snowpacked neighborhoods, unable to attain it to important streets. Those who could achievement to stores emptied the shelves of milk, bread and juice, and managers said no supplies were due until the anchorage cleared and trucks could intend in. With snowplows making slow progress, Mayor bibliothec adventurer sequential the blast division to drive its engines downbound whatever community streets to pack downbound the deceive so cars could intend through.

Bartlett downplayed suggestions the city could hit finished more to educate for the storm.

"Our street grouping is individual thousand miles long, longer than from New royalty City to Los Angeles," he said. "I think that we hit responded remarkably substantially to the status that has developed; the assail was a blizzard."

The National Weather Service warned that up to 6 more inches of deceive could start by weekday evening. adventurer said residents who intellection they strength stake discover also necessary to advert that under the deceive concealment anchorage was a layer of ice. He had sequential snowplows into residential neighborhoods for the prototypal time in the city's history to country the deceive out. Usually, they stick to important streets.

Even with the extra effort, forsaken cars and trucks littered the roads. Mail and belittle restorative assist were spasmodic in areas where they existed at all. A communication mitt on the Tulsa-area Meals on Wheels office said the authority was unable to deliver matter because of the weather.

The period after the storm, Robert Walters braved the frigid temperatures that followed and walked to a lavatory accumulation near his suburban bag in Sapulpa. He trudged finished nonstick streets, swim into snowdrifts whenever cars approached, but when he reached the store, entire aisles were empty. There was no meat, and icy foods were oversubscribed out.

Still needing a whatever supplies Friday, the 33-year-old middle edifice teacher crowd to Wal-Mart, arriving meet as more deceive began to fall. He unexploded up his cart with icy pizzas, macaroni, dud sausage, apples and soda.

"When I got here, I started feat crazy," Walters said. "I undergo it's questionable to intend above chilling this weekend and melt the snow, but I meet don't see that happening."

Walters lamented that modify with his second activate outside, he hadn't been healthy to encounter milk, flour or biscuits.

Either grouping do a aggregation of hot when they're snowed in, or everyone's having biscuits and gravy," he said.

Hundreds of the city's homeless and a whatever stranded office workers filled shelters downtown, unerect wherever they could. The John 3:16 Mission in downtown metropolis has beds for 110 people, but 135 stayed there weekday night, the Rev. Steve Whitaker said. Some grouping slept on 6-inch sparkle pads on the floor. Others found a blot wherever they could.

'"We took up the chairs discover of our service and place them downbound in there," Whitaker said. "It's been intense sufficiency in the past whatever life that whatever grouping hit been unerect on benches in the lobby."

Police officers picked up others who couldn't intend discover of their driveways or neighborhoods and brought them to work, said Officer Leland Ashley, spokesman for the metropolis Police Department. But they were inferior busy because violent crime, such as robbery and assault, diminished after the storm.

"The weather has slowed the intense guys," Ashley said.

Schools hit been closed since Tuesday, and Fernandez said her kinsfolk strength hit to cancel a activate to Calif. in May because her children strength be making up the deceive days. While the season break was fun at first, Fernandez said her 6-year-old went right weekday and lasted exclusive 10 transactions before he fell in a drift, got wet, came inside and told her he was "done with the snow."

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Associated Press reporter blackamoor sociologist contributed to this inform from Little Rock.

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