5 dead, dozens of flights cancelled in Midwest
kansas — A winter storm that dumped heavy snow on the US Midwest, causing at least five roadway deaths, stranding some motorists in Missouri and cancelling dozens of flights, marched east toward Washington on Saturday.
The weather system, which started as rain from Mexico but has since turned into snow, is forecast to affect a 2,900km swath of the United States from Colorado to the Mid-Atlantic.
The storm hit Kansas and Missouri on Friday and pummeled those states again on Saturday as it extended into parts of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, said US Weather Prediction Center meteorologist Andrew Orrison.
In Kansas City, snow dusted the field at Arrowhead Stadium during Saturday’s National Football League playoff game between the hometown Chiefs and Indianapolis Colts.
“There’s snow time like Showtime,” the Chiefs said on Twitter, sharing video of the team’s quarterback Patrick Mahomes arriving at the stadium in the snow. — berlin — Three German skiers have been killed in an avalanche in Austria and a fourth is still missing, police said on Sunday as snowfall set in again in the northern Alps. In France, two ski patrollers were killed when the devices they use to trigger avalanches exploded.
The two accidents brought to at least 26 the number of weather-related deaths reported in parts of Europe this month.
In Austria, the wife of one of the German skiers reported them missing on Saturday. The bodies of the men, aged 57, 36 and 32, were recovered later Saturday evening near the ski resort of Lech. Police in Vorarlberg, Austria’s westernmost province, said they had to call off the search for another missing German skier in the group, age 28, because of heavy snow and the risk of avalanches.
Police said the four friends had apparently skied onto a trail that was closed. Although they had avalanche protection equipment and deployed airbags, the victims were buried by the avalanche and suffered multiple injuries. They were located with the help of cellphone tracking. —