TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

3 Die As Storm Ices Roads

ADVERTISEMENT

By STEVE LeBLANC, The Associated Press

Published: December 17, 2007

BOSTON - A wind-blown brew of snow, sleet and freezing rain cut visibility and iced over highways from the Great Lakes to New England on Sunday, stranding air and road travelers and causing a jetliner to skid off a runway.

At least three traffic deaths - two in Michigan and one in Wisconsin - have been blamed on the storm.

The National Weather Service posted winter storm warnings from Michigan and Indiana all the way to Maine. Around a foot of snow had fallen on parts of the Chicago area, with 10 inches in Vermont. Meteorologists said that 18 inches was possible in northern New England; more snow still was expected in parts of Michigan.

"Our biggest advice right now is, stay home," said Maine State Police Sgt. Andrew Donovan. Visibility in the blowing snow was less than 200 yards, and in stronger gusts "if there's a car in front of you, you can't even see it," he said.

In Rhode Island, a U.S. Airways Express Flight from Philadelphia carrying 31 passengers and three crew members slid off the runway as it tried to land at T.F. Green Airport, which got nearly 8 inches of snow, the Providence Journal reported on its Web site. No injuries were reported.

By late afternoon Sunday, AAA Michigan had helped more than 3,000 motorists, spokeswoman Nancy Cain said.

Every available plow truck was at work in Vermont, said Reggie Brown, highway department dispatcher.

The storm canceled hundreds of flights at airports in Chicago and about 300 flights at Boston's busy Logan International Airport. Flights also were canceled at airports in Portland, Maine; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Manchester, N.H. Few major problems were reported at airports in Philadelphia and New York.

The storm didn't keep fans away from the New England Patriots versus New York Jets game at Foxborough, Mass., but they had to shovel off their seats in the stadium.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said the storm at one point blacked out 160,000 customers Sunday, although service had been restored to thousands by Sunday evening. Scattered power failures also were reported in Vermont, state officials said.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT