Midsection grapples with ice storm
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Parts of the central U.S. dealt Saturday with a second day of road-glazing ice and braced for more of the treacherous, wintry weather that is expected to close out the holiday weekend.
The storm caused travel headaches for many people who opted to go out despite pleas by authorities to stay put. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Interstate 40 was closed in two places in the western portion of the state because of wrecks, including several tractor-trailers that jackknifed in icy conditions in Caddo Count y. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Saturday’s storm followed one Friday that dumped f re e z i ng r a i n f ro m Okla - homa to southern Illinois. The National Weather Service said swaths of Kansas and Missouri — both still under ice storm warnings Saturday — could see a third wave of sleet and freezing drizzle today. Complicating matters were temperatures forecast in many cases to remain near or below freezing.
Ice buildups of one-quar- ter inch to slightly less than a half inch are expected this morning from southeastern Kansas to central Missouri. St. Louis received a somewhat thinner glazing.
State troopers in Missouri and other affffffffffffected states were pressing motorists to limit travel to only necessary outings, allowing road crews the space to treat the slippery mess. Many appeared to heed that advice, drawing kudos from the Missouri Department of Transpor t ation, which scrambled aroundthe-clock to mitigate the hazardous road conditions.
“We are keeping up with the changing conditions, but it is a continual battle,” said Becky Allmeroth, a state maintenance engineer for the department who called ice “the most diffifficult storm to fifight.”
“The precipitation is coming in waves, and we have to apply more salt,” she said.
A slick roadway was suspected in a Missouri wreck Friday that killed a 33-yearold woman whose spor t utility vehicle slid on an icy freeway overpass south of St. Louis and struck several trees.
T h e s t o r m ’ s o n s e t prompted the NFL to move the AFC divisional playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the host Kansas City Chiefs to this evening to allow more time to treat roads and parking lots at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium. The game was scheduled to kick offff at noon but now will start at 7:20 p.m.
Many residents had prepared for the storms by stocking up on bread, milk and other necessities and by buying flflashlights and generators to have on hand in case electric power was knocked out.