Winter Storms Are Odd.....

....to say the least.

Published: 1/15/07, 11:46 AM EDT
By BETSY TAYLOR

ST. LOUIS (AP) - As the death toll from a powerful winter storm rose to 30 across six states, utility crews worked on Monday to restore electricity to about 330,000 Missouri households and businesses.

Crews hoped to take advantage of moderate weather expected Monday - with only a few lingering snow showers and flurries - to bring power back on before an expected drop in temperatures to the single digits Monday night.

The remains of the storm system streamed toward New England on Monday, shutting down numerous businesses, day care centers and schools in Maine with a mixture of sleet and snow that made roads treacherous.

Lower Michigan and parts of New England could see more than a foot of snow Monday, as rain fell from the lower Mississippi Valley up through the Ohio Valley, The National Weather Service said. On the back side of the storm, snow in Iowa closed some schools Monday.

Waves of freezing rain, sleet and snow since Friday had been blamed for at least 15 deaths in Oklahoma, six in Missouri, five in Iowa, two in Texas and one each in New York and Maine.

Seven of the Oklahoma deaths occurred in one accident, in which a minivan carrying 12 people slid off an icy highway Sunday and struck an oncoming truck, the Highway Patrol said. All of the van's occupants were adult residents of Mexico, who were traveling from Arizona to North Carolina, Highway Patrol Capt. Chris West said.

As the storm blew across the lower Great Lakes and northern New England on Monday, a layer of heavy ice up to a half-inch thick knocked out power to more than 11,000 customers in northern New York and was blamed for dozens of traffic accidents, authorities officials said.

The ice accumulation also blacked out at least 1,000 utility customers in New Hampshire, but for the northern part of the state, ski areas were celebrating their first significant snowfall of the season.

Most of the Missouri power outages - the majority in the state's southwest corner - were caused by the weight of freezing rain snapping tree branches and dropping them onto power lines, officials said.

Guardsmen went door to door checking on the health and safety of residents in the hardest hit parts of the state and helping to clear slick roads. The temperature in the St. Louis area hovered just above the freezing mark Monday morning, and the wind chill was 24 degrees, the weather service said.

Amtrak canceled Sunday service between Kansas City and St. Louis because of to fallen trees and other debris on railroad tracks. Airlines in Texas canceled 415 flights because of the weather Sunday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. On Monday, 100 more departures at the airport were canceled.
In the St. Louis region, about 150,000 customers remained without power Sunday afternoon.

About 122,000 customers lacked power in Oklahoma as of Sunday night, the state Department of Emergency Management said. Authorities said it could be up to a week before power is fully restored. A gymnasium roof collapsed under the weight of ice and snow at Del City, Okla., but no one was inside, authorities said.
Late Sunday, President Bush declared a federal disaster for Oklahoma because of the storm.

Elsewhere, a weekend cold snap that had worried citrus growers and other farmers in California produced rare freezing temperatures Monday in southern Arizona. The 8 a.m. reading in Phoenix was 29, the weather service said.
During the weekend, the cold had frozen water pipes in the Phoenix area and flooded shelters with homeless people.

"This is something that we don't think about much here," said Ken Kroski, spokesman for the Phoenix Water Services Department, which was flooded with calls about burst pipes.
___
Associated Press writers Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and Timberly Ross in Omaha, Neb., contributed to this report.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.