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U.S. NEWS Thursday 14 March 2019

'Epic' storm brings blizzards, floods, tornado to mid-U.S.

By BOB MOEN and DAN EL-
LIOTT
Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A
window-rattling late win-
ter storm brought blizzards,
floods and a tornado
across more than 25 states
Wednesday, stretching
from the northern Rocky
Mountains to Texas and
beyond.
"This is a very epic cyclone,"
said Greg Carbin, chief of
forecast operations for the
National Oceanic and At-
mospheric Administration's
Weather Prediction Center.
"We're looking at some-
thing that will go down in
the history books." A man crosses Crow Creek during a blizzard on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in Cheyenne, Wyo.
In Colorado, a state patrol Associated Press
officer was hit and killed
by a car as he was helping father in his pickup truck. sandbags to keep flood- erbed near Logan in north-
another driver who slid off Hundreds of flights were waters from spreading, and east New Mexico. No one
Interstate 76 near Denver. canceled at Denver Inter- the American Red Cross was injured, New Mexico
Corporal Daniel Groves, national Airport, and nearly set up a shelter for anyone State Police said.
52, was outside his patrol 40 were grounded in Colo- who was displaced. A wind gust of 92 mph (148
car when he was struck. He rado Springs. Parts of seven states were kph) was recorded in the
died at a hospital. "It caught me completely under blizzard warnings, mountains northwest of
Hundreds of drivers were off guard," said Sarah Brin and 20 states were under Denver.
stranded on Colorado of Santa Fe, New Mexico, some level of high wind The storm was expected
highways, including 500 in who was stranded at the alert, Carbin said. to drop up to 22 inches (56
the Colorado Springs area Denver airport. A tornado in New Mexico centimeters) of snow in Wy-
alone. Gov. Jared Polis ac- It was supposed to be a ripped roofs from buildings oming, 14 inches (36 cen-
tivated the National Guard brief layover on her flight in the small town of Dexter, timeters) in South Dakota
to help find and rescue home from the South by about 200 miles (320 kilo- and a foot (31 centimeters)
snowbound drivers. Southwest Film Festival in meters) southwest of Albu- in Colorado.
Scores of motorists took ref- Austin, Texas, but it turned querque. Authorities said Forecasters said the winds
uge at truck stops in east- into an overnight stay. five people were hurt, but would pile snow into deep
ern Wyoming while blow- She booked a room in a none of the injuries were drifts.
ing snow forced portions of downtown hotel and re- life-threatening. A dairy eu- The culprit was a sud-
major highways to close in served a spot on a shuttle thanized about 150 cows den and severe drop in
Colorado, Nebraska and van, but some shuttle trips injured by the tornado. ground-level air pressure
South Dakota. were canceled because of Chaves County Sheriff Mike in Colorado, the most pro-
Bria McKenzie, 22, said she the weather. Herrington said the tornado nounced dive since 1950,
and her mother, brother "We'll see if they actually "took out" about 10 homes Carbin said. It was caused
and sister were stuck in their show up," she said. on one street. by a combination of the jet
car for more than two hours Many schools and gov- High winds knocked 25 stream and normal condi-
on a hilly road in Colorado ernment offices closed for railroad freight cars off a tions in the wind shadow of
Springs. the day. Xcel Energy said bridge into a mostly dry riv- the Rockies.q
The snow was blinding and high winds caused about
numbing, and the wind 184,000 homes and busi-
was whipping so hard she nesses to lose electricity,
didn't feel safe walking to a mostly in the Denver area.
hospital just down the road, Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz
she said. said zero visibility made
"We thought about it, well conditions difficult for re-
maybe we'll run over to the pair workers, and it could
hospital — at least we'll be take days to restore power
warm," she said. "But we to everyone.
were soaking wet already In North Texas, severe thun-
just from trying to keep the derstorms damaged build-
windshield clear and from ings and flipped over small
trying to push our car and planes parked at an air-
help other people push port.
their cars. It was just like ev- Flooding forced evacua-
ery second you were out tions in northeast Nebraska
there, it felt like parts of you and western Iowa, includ-
were just freezing." ing a retirement home in
McKenzie said they were Pierce, Nebraska. Residents
eventually rescued by her of Avoca, Iowa, were filling