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Delta Airlines flight attendant Victoria Flees trudges through the snow with her bags in downtown Minneapolis on the way back home from the light rail station after her flight to Paris was grounded along with all other planes at MSP because of weather, Saturday, April 14, 2018. The National Weather Service predicts 9 to 15 inches of snow across a large swath of southern Minnesota including the Twin Cities before it’s all over. (Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via AP) |
Associated Press
GREENSBORO, N.
The Latest on a spring storm that dumped heavy snow on Upper Midwest, Plains states (all times local):
9:20 p.m.
Authorities say they’ve declared a local state of emergency in Greensboro, North Carolina, after an apparent tornado caused damage in several locations around that city.
Greensboro police said in a tweet that there also has been one storm-related fatality in Greensboro, but they gave no immediate details of that death. They did not elaborate on the damages. But earlier media reports said high winds damaged at least seven homes and destroyed one mobile classroom.
The statement says emergency crews are conducting emergency checks in the areas affected and urged anyone needing immediate shelter to head to a local high school. Separately the city of Greensboro tweeted that damage was “prominent” but that a tornado had not been immediately confirmed by the National Weather Service.
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5:55 p.m.
Severe storms have blown down trees, caused airport delays and knocked out power to tens of thousands in North and South Carolina.
About 75,000 homes and businesses were without power late Sunday afternoon in the two states. Duke Energy said about 43,000 customers lacked power in North Carolina, and another 9,000 in South Carolina. South Carolina Electric and Gas Company reported 23,000 customers without power in South Carolina.
The airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, said on Twitter Sunday that severe weather caused a ground stop and forced air traffic controllers to leave their tower. The ground stop was later lifted.
The National Weather Service says a reported tornado was sighted near Greensboro, North Carolina, and the high winds damaged at least seven homes and destroyed one mobile classroom. No injuries were reported.
Elsewhere, authorities in Lexington County, South Carolina, posted photos online of a house that had been damaged, while the weather service received a report of the roof being blown off an agricultural building in the county.
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4:50 p.m.
A storm system that’s sweeping across the central U.S. has prompted Enbridge Energy to temporarily shutter twin oil and gas pipelines in Michigan that may have been recently damaged by a ship anchor strike.
Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy tells The Detroit News that the Line 5 pipelines were temporarily shuttered Sunday afternoon due to a power outage at Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin.
He says Enbridge decided to shutter the twin pipelines until weather conditions improve in the Straits of Mackinac, which links Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.
Sunday afternoon’s forecast called for gusting winds with waves of 7 to 12 feet high for the straits.
Michigan’s two U.S. senators on Friday called for the pipelines’ temporarily closure amid reports they may have been damaged by a ship anchor strike.
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4:30 p.m.
Michigan’s power outages caused by freezing rain from a deadly storm system have now grown to more than 300,000 homes and businesses.
DTE Energy says freezing rain that began falling overnight had left about 310,000 of its customers in eastern Michigan with no power as of 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Most of those customers were in the Detroit area and Michigan’s Thumb.
The utility said some customers could face long waits for their power to return because dangerous roads and the weather were slowing repair crews.
Consumers Energy reported outages affecting about 30,000 of its customers.
The storm that’s blamed for three deaths in Louisiana, Nebraska and Wisconsin is also forecast to dump a foot or more of snow on parts of the state’s Upper Peninsula by early Monday.
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1:20 p.m.
Officials say heavy snow caused part of a hotel roof to collapse in northeastern Wisconsin, but no one was hurt.
WLUK-TV reports that the roof collapsed Sunday over the pool at an Econo Lodge Inn & Suites in Ashwaubenon, which is next to Green Bay. No one was in the pool area at the time.
The Green Bay Press Gazette reports that the hotel was evacuated and guests were being moved to other area hotels.
More than a foot of heavy snow has fallen in the area since Saturday as part of a weekend storm system that stretched all the way south to the Gulf Coast.
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12:05 p.m.
Freezing rain from a deadly storm system has cut power to nearly 160,000 homes and businesses across Michigan.
About 33,000 Consumers Energy customers and 125,000 DTE customers were without power by noon Sunday in Michigan due to damaged power lines.
A winter storm warning is in effect for most of Michigan as the system that’s blamed for three deaths in Louisiana, Nebraska and Wisconsin brings heavy snow to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and freezing rain and sleet to other parts of the state.
National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Meade says freezing rain has left up to a quarter-inch (6 millimeters) of ice south of Grand Rapids.
Freezing rain is falling south of Interstate 96, but sleet falling north of the highway has dropped 2 inches (5 centimeters) of sleet in some areas.
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10:25 a.m.
A storm system blowing through the central U.S. has dumped heavy snow on parts of Michigan and coated roads and sidewalks in ice.
National Weather Service meteorologist Keith White in Marquette says moderate to heavy snow was falling Sunday morning in the Upper Peninsula. He says more than a foot was possible by early Monday in the communities of Ishpeming and Negaunee, which are west of Marquette.
Residents are being urged to remain home because roads are expected to become impassable later Sunday. High winds are snow will cause poor visibility, further hampering travel.
White says heavy April snowfalls aren’t unheard of in the region, where some areas average more than 300 inches (760 centimeters) of snow per year.
The vast storm system has been blamed for three deaths, including one each in Louisiana, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
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10 a.m.
A deadly storm system moving through the central and southern U.S. has dumped a thick blanket of snow on parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota and left parts of Michigan an icy mess.
The National Weather Service in Green Bay reported Sunday that more than 24 inches (61 centimeters) of snow had fallen in the northeastern Wisconsin communities of Tigerton and Big Falls.
About 200 Sunday flights have been canceled at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, where nearly 13 inches (33 centimeters) of snow has fallen and where blizzard conditions on Saturday forced the cancellation of nearly 470 flights.
Interstates 90 and 29 in parts of eastern South Dakota are reopening while some highways remain closed in southwestern Minnesota.
The Minnesota Twins postponed Sunday’s home game against the Chicago White Sox, the third straight postponement of the four-game series.
The storm system has been blamed on the deaths of three people.
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12:15 a.m.
Hundreds of flights have been canceled in Minneapolis as a deadly storm system sweeps across the central U.S., bringing heavy snowfall, powerful winds and rain to several states.
Officials say one runway reopened at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport late Saturday night, hours after all flights were grounded during a spring blizzard. Airport officials say the snow was coming down too fast to keep the runways clear or the planes deiced.
Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan says 469 flights were canceled before one runway reopened shortly after 10 p.m. He says crews are working overnight to get others reopened.
The snowfall is part of a storm system stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes. The system moved into the region Friday. At least three deaths have been attributed to the weather in Wisconsin, Nebraska and Louisiana.
