KEY POINTS:
KANSAS CITY - A deadly ice storm sweeping through the US Plains left more than 400,000 people without power as temperatures plunged and was blamed for at least 14 deaths, authorities said today.
The icy blast downed tree limbs and power lines, leaving more than 311,000 people without power in Oklahoma and shutting down electricity service to more than 90,000 people in Missouri, more than 10,000 people in Illinois and more than 4,000 in Kansas.
Conditions were expected to only worsen Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service, which predicted the potential for damaging ice accumulations as a cold air mass stalls over the region.
Ice storm warnings were issued from Texas up through Oklahoma and Kansas and east across Missouri into Illinois, with up to an inch of ice accumulation possible in some areas. Iowa and Arkansas were also affected.
"We expect a lot more, especially with another round of freezing precipitation that will be making its way through this afternoon," said Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Michelann Ooten. "We are getting ready to deploy some generators to some communities that requested them, and we may be calling on the National Guard for transport."
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency on Sunday, calling out the state's National Guard to aid communities hit by the storm.
"We are only just beginning to see the devastation from this series of storms," Blunt said on Monday.
Ice-slicked roads contributed to the deaths of 12 people in Oklahoma over the weekend, including four who died in a pile-up that involved a tractor-trailer, state officials said. One Oklahoma man died of hypothermia.
One man died in a weather-related highway accident in Missouri, and another Missouri man was injured when a ice-covered tree fell on him, authorities said.
Parts of Interstate 70 were closed and hundreds of flights were canceled at major airports in Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis and Oklahoma City.
The National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma, reported ice accumulations on trees and power lines from a quarter to an inch thick in areas of central Oklahoma.
Ty Judd, a weather service meteorologist, said the freezing rain could continue into Tuesday, although Oklahoma could get a reprieve.
"We might see the temperatures go over the freezing mark this afternoon, which would help the situation," Judd said.
- REUTERS
