|
Winter storm warnings across US
11/12/2007 10:44 - (SA)
|
|
|
 |
|
| Utility crews work on power lines in Collinsville, Oklahoma after an ice storm moved through the region. (Mike Simons, Tulsa World, AP) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oklahoma City - A wintry storm has caked America's centre with a thick layer of ice, blacking out more than 600 000 homes and businesses, and more icy weather was on the way.
At least 17 deaths in Oklahoma and Missouri were blamed on the conditions, with 15 of them killed on slick highways.
A state of emergency was declared for all of Oklahoma, where the sound of branches snapping under the weight of the ice echoed through Oklahoma City.
"You can hear them falling everywhere," Lonnie Compton said on Monday as he shovelled ice off his driveway.
The National Weather Service posted ice and winter storm warnings on Tuesday for parts of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. Missouri declared an emergency on Sunday and put the National Guard on alert.
Oklahoma utilities said a half-million customers were blacked out as power lines snapped under the weight of ice and falling tree branches, the biggest power outage in state history, and utilities in Missouri said more than 100 000 homes and business had no power there.
"If you do the math, probably one out of three Oklahomans has no electricity at this point," said Gil Broyles, a spokesperson for Oklahoma Gas & Electric, the state's largest utility.
|
