Storm Makes Drivers Slip, Fliers Wait

Creation Groans ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Carla K. Johnson - February 2, 2008 CHICAGO - Winter storms at both ends of the country dumped snow and snarled air and land travel Friday, killing at least 10 people, blocking major highways and even stranding 400 train passengers in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Nearly 7 1/2 inches of snow was reported at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport before the front moved out of the area Friday. About 500 flights were canceled at O'Hare, which canceled 600 flights Thursday and housed hundreds of stranded travelers who spent the night awaiting planes from other cities also affected by the storm. - - - The storm brought snow, freezing rain and sleet to the Northeast, where arriving flights at Newark Liberty Airport were delayed as long as three hours Friday afternoon. Arrivals were delayed by 2 1/2 hours at La Guardia Airport, two hours at Philadelphia International and an hour and a half at New York's Kennedy, according to the Federal Aviation Administration's Web site. Along the nearly 500-mile-long New York State Thruway, troopers reported more than 200 accidents - compared with 10 to 15 on a typical clear day. At least four people died Friday on ice-slicked Hudson Valley roads - three when their car slid into an oncoming sanding truck in East Fishkill, the fourth in a head-on collision in the town of Goshen. Six people died on Illinois roads Thursday and Friday. Another storm system made roads impassible in parts of the Pacific Northwest. In Washington state, a 70-mile stretch of Interstate 90 remained closed because of the avalanche danger at the Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Range. The state's main east-west traffic route across the Cascades had been closed for all but six hours since Tuesday morning - the lengthiest closure for the pass since 1997. Recent storms have dumped more than 5 feet of snow on the pass, and more was expected by Saturday morning. Crews used dynamite to dislodge unstable snow near the highway. State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Claudia Cornish said officials hoped to reopen it early Saturday "if all goes well." Two Amtrak trains carrying 400 people got stuck in the mountains of Northern California near Donner Pass, agency officials said. No injuries were reported. The trains had been stuck since 2 p.m., but the passengers are being fed and both trains have heating and lights, Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero said. The tracks were expected to be cleared early Saturday morning. A large snow plow being used to clear the tracks fell through a walkway and blocked the trains' path, Romero said. Union Pacific was bringing a crane to the site to remove the plow. Amtrak was trying to summon buses to nearby towns to get passengers out but have had little luck because many of the vehicles are in Arizona for the Super Bowl. The California Zephyr trains were heading in opposite directions between Emeryville and Chicago. --- Associated Press writers Jim Suhr in St. Louis, David Mercer in Champaign, Ill., and John K. Wiley in Spokane, Wash., contributed to this report. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080202/D8UI5OH80.html FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.