Storms bring record snowfall
ATLANTA: Deadly slowmoving storms generated record or nearrecord snowfall and low temperatures in the US Midwest and tornadoes further east yesterday, leaving airline travellers stranded and thousands without power.
In Michigan, where snowfall was expected to reach 46cm in some areas, about 310,000 homes and businesses were without power because of an ice storm, most of them in the southeast of the state.
Large areas of Detroit were without power and utility DTE Energy said it was working to have 90% of outages restored by today.
The weight of ice on power lines, coupled with high winds, caused more than 1000 power lines to fall in Detroit and Wayne County, DTE said.
The worst of the snow was focused on the upper Great Lakes, with Green Bay, Wisconsin, seeing its second largest snowstorm after 60cm fell, the National Weather Service said.
For the twin cities of MinneapolisSt. Paul, Minnesota, the April monthly record for snowfall of 55cm was surpassed on Sunday, the weather service said.
Two tornadoes tore up trees and ripped apart homes in Greensboro and Reidsville, North Carolina, killing a motorist who was hit by a tree, according to Greensboro’s city manager, local media reported.
The storms stretched from the Gulf Coast to the Midwest and were moving into the Northeast and New England.
The weather was blamed for two traffic deaths in western Nebraska and Wisconsin, according to National Public Radio.
The storms also killed a 1yearold girl when a tree fell on a recreational vehicle where she was sleeping, the sheriff’s office in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, said. — Reuters