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Dozens die in massive US storm
17/01/2007 09:47 - (SA)
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| An energy company worker works on restoring power lines in McAlester, Oklahoma, after strong storms hit the US. (David McDaniel, AP) |
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Chicago - A massive winter storm has covered swaths of the United States in a mantle of snow, sleet and ice, killing at least 42 people, threatening millions of dollars in citrus crops and leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity, officials said on Tuesday.
"This is a big one, affecting all the way from New Mexico to Maine," said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesperson for the national weather service.
The worst-hit areas were Oklahoma, where freezing rain left behind a sheet of ice, and Missouri, hard hit by sleet, he said.
"With the ice, the trees come down on the power lines, and in Oklahoma it's going to take the rest of the week to get all that restored," he said. "The lines are completely down. It's not like it's a transformer here and there - it's the whole grid."
The storm, which began churning across the country on Friday, was caused by an enormous cold front that dropped temperatures by as much as 17°C and brought wave after wave of freezing rain and sleet as it moved slowly eastward.
It weakened somewhat on Tuesday, sparing major East Coast cities such as New York, Boston and Philadelphia from the worst of the ice and sleet.
The weather service has issued storm warnings for central Texas, freeze warnings in California, Arizona and Texas, wind chill advisories stretching from New York to Maine, and flood warnings across central US from Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.
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