Winter Storm Lucian Responsible for 4 Deaths; Nearly 170,000 Without Power

The Weather Channel

Winter Storm Lucian continued to bring snow, freezing rain and sleet to much of the middle section of the nation early Thursday, and officials were again asking motorists to stay off roads.

The storm, which has been blamed in the deaths of at least four people, shut down highways from Arizona to North Dakota. Hundreds of schools were closed for the day.  

Michigan

More than 131,000 customers have lost electricity.

“There are dozens of downed wires, downed trees, broken poles creating very dangerous situations,” Consumers Energy representative Roger Morgenstern told WOOD-TV. “We have been monitoring the weather. We have been out throughout the night securing downed wires and making situations safe.”

Wisconsin

The National Weather Service in Milwaukee said Green County was experiencing widespread icing, and cars were sliding into ditches or having trouble making it up hills.

More than 6,000 customers were experiencing power outages.

Kansas

All roads in northeast Kansas were covered with a layer of ice beneath snow, and the Department of Transportation urged drivers to not attempt to travel until after noon.

In the Kansas City metro area, most school districts remained closed on Thursday, KMBC reported.

The University of Kansas shut down at noon Wednesday and won’t open again until Thursday at 10 a.m., the Lawrence Journal-World reported. Lawrence Public Schools will be closed Thursday, as will all public schools in Topeka, according to WIBW.com.

Missouri

In Missouri, schools closed in Columbia, Jefferson City and St. Joseph and smaller districts. The University of Missouri and Missouri Western shut down, too.

In South Kansas City, Missouri, a bus with three students aboard crashed on icy roads at the Presidential Gardens Apartment Complex on Wednesday, KMBC.com reported. All three students had minor injuries and were taken to a local hospital as a precaution, the report added.

Oklahoma

An overnight ice storm closed schools in much of Oklahoma, the Oklahoman reported.

The Dakotas

In North Dakota, the eastbound lanes of Interstate 94 from Jamestown to Fargo and westbound lanes from Fargo to Valley City were shut down because heavy snow and blowing snow had reduced visibility to near zero, the state Highway Patrol said.

Grand Fork and Cass county courthouses and offices closed Thursday. North Dakota State University and dozens of other schools also closed Thursday.

South Dakota transportation officials advised no travel in the north central part of the state. Highway cameras showed drifts of snow on bridges and in sheltered areas and poor visibility.

Arizona

Sixty-eight miles of Interstate 40 in northeastern Arizona, from Holbrook to the New Mexico border, is closed because of icy conditions, multiple slideoffs and at least one crash, AP reports.

Four People Killed

Authorities said the storm’s impacts were responsible for the deaths of at four three people.

The Associated Press confirmed two of the deaths occurred along Interstate 70 in Lafayette County, Missouri, Tuesday night when a vehicle skidded and collided with a tractor-trailer. The Missouri Highway Patrol identified the victims as Wendy Rios, of Altamont, Illinois, and Kaleb Huddlestun, of Effingham, Illinois.

The third confirmed death occurred Tuesday in Miami County, Kansas, when Dennis Gentry skidded on an icy bridge and flipped his pickup truck along U.S. 169, the AP also said. Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Candice Breshears confirmed Gentry’s death to the AP.

Dana Michelle Thowe, 51, was killed about 3:30 a.m. Thursday when her car crashed into a snow plow on Interstate 70 in Topeka, KSNT reported. The driver of the plow was not injured.

Here is video from The Village Apartments in South KC. The manager tells me "school busses drive fast in this area all the time." He says today and the ice definitely played a factor in the crash. @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/nljrXoFyMI

— Steven Dial (@StevenDialFox4) February 6, 2019

Two Waves of Wintry Weather Hit the West

Lucian brought multiple waves of snow and ice to parts of the West, which continued on Wednesday, when parts of several states experienced dangerous travel and school closures for the second time this week.

This included the Salt Lake City area, where travel was slow Wednesday morning and many school districts either delayed or canceled classes, according to the AP. The University of Utah was closed, and state employees were on a delay Wednesday, the AP also said.

The school cancellations were rare; Utah’s Canyons School District, which was founded in 2009, had never canceled school because of wintry weather until Lucian arrived, the AP added.

To the south, schools in Flagstaff, Arizona, were also canceled Wednesday because of the winter storm.

On Wednesday afternoon, intense snowfall in Denver slowed travel, and officials asked those who didn’t leave work prior to the snow’s arrival to stay put until the precipitation departed.

“CDOT is strongly recommending that commuters leave early or stagger travel to mitigate impacts of volume on the roadways during the storm. The state of Colorado is closing offices two hours early,” the Colorado Department of Transportation said in a release obtained by the Denver Post.

Lucian created hazardous driving conditions Tuesday in California and led to the closing of all roads in Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite National Park tweeted that all roads in the park were closed because of heavy snow and fallen trees. The park also tweeted video of a giant rockfall Monday at Sentinel Rock that it said was probably caused by the heavy rain over the weekend.

“It’s beautiful and we certainly need the snow, but we’re asking people to stay indoors,” park spokesman Scott Gediman told the AP. “As the weather improves, we’ll plow roads and assess the situation.”

(MORE: What 10 Feet of Snow in Three Days Looks Like)

Even the San Francisco Bay Area and wine country in Napa County got rare dustings of snow. Snow fell on Mount Hamilton, Mount Diablo and Mount Tamalpais. Some of the region’s highest peaks got up to four inches of snow. Two to three inches of snow stuck to State Road 29 north of Calistoga in Napa County.

More than 50,000 customers lost electricity Tuesday in California, according to PowerOutage.us. Outages had dropped to a little more than 13,000 on Thursday morning.

(MORE: Notable Snow Holes in the Midwest, Northeast)

The storm caused a power outage Monday night at a wastewater pump station north of Seattle, the AP reported. That led to 19,400 of gallons of wastewater spilling into Puget Sound, the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks said. An employee was able to reset pump operations, AP said, and the spill was reported to health and regulatory agencies.

Washington Highway Patrol troopers responded to 170 spinouts and crashes in King County on Monday, KOMO-TV reported. There was a number of spinouts on Interstate 5 near Lynnwood, about 15 miles north of Seattle. Southbound I-5 was down to one lane near Everett. Several collisions were reported.

Many Washington students woke up to learn they had a snow day, as dozens of districts canceled classes Monday because of the snow. Government offices also closed in many locations.

Light snow fell in the Portland, Oregon, area late Monday. Several cars collided on Interstate 84 near I-205, KATU reported.

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