OMAHA, Neb. — Drifting snow and cold rain that have plagued much of the country for days stranded drivers and airline passengers Saturday trying to get home after Christmas.
Storms from Texas to the Upper Midwest that dumped 23.9 inches of snow in Grand Forks, N.D., and 18 inches near Norfolk, Neb., began subsiding, but blowing and drifting snow hampered visibility in many areas.
Several motorists abandoned their vehicles on snow covered roads in northeast Nebraska. Ten to 20 vehicles were stuck near Norfolk, but state troopers do not believe any motorists were stranded.
Rising temperatures and rains in the East began melting and washing away last week’s record-setting snowfalls, threatening the region with flooding.
A woman and her teenage daughter in Middletown, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, were rescued from a rain-swollen creek after their sport utility vehicle went off the road Saturday. Rescue workers found the 14-year-old clinging to a log; her mother was trapped in the SUV.
Authorities in southeast Missouri were searching for a woman who was washed away in a ditch on Christmas Eve as heavy rains showered the region. Witnesses saw her in the water west of Powe, Mo., and tried to assist her, said Sgt. Jody Laramore of the state Highway Patrol.
In Chicago, one of the nation’s busiest travel hubs, snow, ice and rain on the East Coast canceled or delayed more than 450 flights.
Shannon Fullmer drove two hours from his home in Freeport, Ill., to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Saturday to pick up his 12-year-old son. But the flight from New Jersey was delayed more than three hours.
The 38-year-old waited in a long line to get through security so he could wait by the gate where his son’s planewas expected to arrive about 7:30 p.m. CST.
Fullmer said he would wait “as long as I have to.”
“It doesn’t do any good to get angry,” he said.
A few dozen flights were delayed and a few canceled Saturday afternoon in southern Wisconsin. The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory through Saturday evening. Forecasters expected 3 to 5 inches of snow by this morning.
Flights also were delayed at the three major airports in the New York area, which was getting rain and patchy fog. Some travelers arriving at Newark Liberty International had de-1 lays of nearly 2/2 hours.
Transportation officials closed a 30-mile stretch of Interstate 70 between Goodland, Kan., and Burlington, Colo. Officials also have closed interstate highways in Nebraska, the Dakotas and Wyoming, but some reopened as the storm began to abate. Officials reopened all of Interstate 80 across Nebraska, but officials warned that poor road conditions continue.
In South Dakota, state troopers assisted 182 people who were stranded in their vehicles or needed help getting through snowy roads, Col. Dan Mosteller said.
Chad Omitt, a meteorologist in Topeka, Kan., said the storm knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes, including in Topeka where about 15,000 were without power at the peak.
South Dakota officials reported several roof collapses from the weight of the snow, including a livestock barn near Baltic, where at least 25 cattle were trapped or killed.
Meanwhile, in the East, rain and rising temperatures helped to melt snow in areas where as much as 2 feet fell last weekend. But freezing temperatures were expected overnight in parts of New England. A freezing-rain advisory was extended through 6 a.m. today for parts of western Massachusetts.
In New Jersey, rain began falling Christmas night and was expected to continue through this morning. Flood warnings were in effect for most of southern New Jersey and the Philadelphia area through the late afternoon.
Information for this article was contributed by Verena Dobnik, M.L. Johnson, Karen Hawkins, Bruce Shipkowski and Bob Salsberg of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 12/27/2009