‘Epic’ storm brings blizzards, floods, tornado to mid-U.S.

CHEYENNE, WYO. — A window-rattling late winter storm brought blizzards, floods and a tornado across more than 25 states Wednesday, stretching from the northern Rocky Mountains to Texas and beyond.

“This is a very epic cyclone,” said Greg Carbin, chief of forecast operations for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center. “We’re looking at something that will go down in the history books.”

It could develop into the worst storm of its type in more than three decades, he said.

Blowing snow forced portions of major highways to close in Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Hundreds of drivers were stranded on Colorado highways, including 500 in the Colorado Springs area alone. Gov. Jared Polis activated the National Guard to help find and rescue snowbound drivers.

Scores of motorists took refuge at truck stops in eastern Wyoming.

Hundreds of flights were canceled at Denver International Airport, and nearly 40 were grounded in Colorado Springs.

“It caught me completely off guard,” said Sarah Brin of Santa Fe, New Mexico, who was stranded at the Denver airport.

It was supposed to be a brief layover on her flight home from the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, but it turned into an overnight stay.

She booked a room in a downtown hotel and reserved a spot on a shuttle van. But some shuttle trips were canceled because of the weather.

“We’ll see if they actually show up,” she said.

Many schools and government offices closed for the day. Xcel Energy said high winds caused about 184,000 homes and businesses to lose electricity, mostly in the Denver area. Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz said zero visibility made conditions difficult for repair workers, and it could take days to restore power to everyone.

In North Texas, severe thunderstorms damaged buildings and flipped over small planes parked at an airport.

Flooding forced evacuations in northeast Nebraska and western Iowa, including a retirement home in Pierce, Nebraska. Residents of Avoca, Iowa, were filling sandbags to keep floodwaters from spreading, and the American Red Cross set up a shelter for anyone who was displaced.

Parts of seven states were under blizzard warnings, and 20 states were under some level of high wind alert, Carbin said.

A tornado in New Mexico ripped roofs from buildings in the small town of Dexter, about 200 miles southwest of Albuquerque. Authorities said none of the injuries were life-threatening, but a dairy euthanized about 150 cows injured by the tornado.

The vast storm stretched at least 1,000 miles, said meteorologist Ryan Maue of weathermodels.com.

“It looks beautiful on satellite as long as you are not caught on it,” he said.