Death toll amid winter storm climbs to 7 as snow, ice cause treacherous travel from Kansas to Virginia
One of the biggest winter storms so far this season buried part of the Plains in 18 inches of snow, and caused travel headaches in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore during the Monday morning commute.
Video from Wichita, Kansas, shows the slick conditions drivers faced on roadways, as an ice storm swept through the region on Jan. 4.
The death toll continues to climb in the wake of a powerful three-pronged storm that unleashed snow, ice and severe weather across more than a dozen states from Kansas through New Jersey. Seven deaths now being blamed on the winter weather.
The worst of the snow and ice hammered the central Plains over the weekend into Monday, where over a foot of snow fell and blizzard conditions ensued. Snowfall amounts were as high as 18 inches in Kansas and 16 inches in Nebraska. Eight cities from Kansas to West Virginia set daily snowfall records Sunday, including Kansas City, Missouri, which set its fourth-highest daily snowfall total with 11 inches.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said a 33-year-old driver died after getting out of their vehicle on Interstate 29 in Mount City. The vehicle started sliding and hit the driver.
Another death was reported in Missouri when a 61-year-old Public Works employee was struck while performing snow removal operations in Jackson County, according to MSHP.
"This is a heartbreaking loss for our entire Jackson County family,” Jackson County Executive Frank White Jr. said. “Everett Carter dedicated four decades of his life to serving our community with pride and professionalism. We will forever be grateful for his service and deeply miss his presence."
Snow removal operations paused on Sunday because of the incident and resumed on Monday morning.
Two people were killed in a crash in Wichita during the winter storm, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP), when a vehicle traveling on Interstate 235 spun out of control and left the roadway.
A 28-year-old Dodge City, Kansas man died on Saturday when a tractor-trailer swerved in icy conditions, and the victim’s vehicle crashed into the tractor-trailer.
On Monday, investigators said a 65-year-old Dodge City man was killed when a vehicle backed over him while he was trying to direct a vehicle out of a snowdrift-covered parking lot.
In Illinois, officials say a 10-year-old was killed and another is in critical condition after a snow tube crash in Macon County. According to the Macon County Sheriff's Office, the two boys were being towed in an inner tube behind an ATV amid snowy conditions near Mt. Zion. The man driving the ATV turned on a slope, which caused the tube to crash into a boulder.
Roads and highways across the region were shut down amid the extreme weather, including Interstate 70 in Kansas where some motorists were stranded on the snowy, icy roads. Cincinnati measured 8.4 inches of snow on Sunday, making it the snowiest calendar day since Feb. 4, 1998, when 11.8 inches accumulated.
The snow and ice spread eastward throughout Sunday and into Monday, as snow clogged roads slowed travel to a halt around many major travel hubs, including St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Louisville, Kentucky.
"[Sunday] night, it sure was just a mess all across the states of Kentucky and Ohio," Storm Chaser Aaron Rigsby said. "At one point and on I-71 in Kentucky near Glencoe, I was actually stuck in traffic for almost an hour due to multiple semis and vehicles. They weren't crashing, but they were getting stuck."
Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby was stuck on I-71 near Glencoe, Kentucky, due to authorities shutting the roadway down because of heavy snow and ice.
By the Monday morning commute, accumulating snow had arrived in the mid-Atlantic, with reports of 3 to 6 inches around Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Farther south in Virginia, Kentucky and into North Carolina, freezing rain iced over trees and roads.
Travel headaches mounted at airports across the country, with more than 2,200 flight cancellations and over 3,500 delays on Sunday and Monday. The significant number of flight disruptions could have a ripple effect at airports across the country through the start of the week.
Power outages peaked late Monday morning at just over 350,000 from the Plains to the mid-Atlantic, but slowly declined throughout Monday afternoon, dipping to around 290,000, according to PowerOutage.us.
As of Tuesday afternoon, nearly 200,000 customers remain without power in the states of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia.
Bitterly cold air is following the snowstorm, which can become dangerous for those without power.
On Monday morning, AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures were below zero in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, in the single digits in Missouri and Oklahoma and in the teens across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and western Pennsylvania.
"Prolonged heating demand, frozen pipes and dangerously low AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures and power outages can all occur this week," warned AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex Duffus.
Another winter storm is already brewing and could deliver snow and ice to the southern U.S., including Dallas, Nashville, and Atlanta, before potentially turning toward the Northeast over the upcoming weekend.
Report a Typo
