CHICAGO (AP) — A powerful storm brought heavy snow and biting winds to parts of the Midwest on Wednesday, leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights in and out of Chicago and the closure of schools in districts in several states.
Airlines cancelled more than 1,000 flights to and from Chicago’s major airports, O’Hare and Midway. And before noon, the snow was falling hard, leading the city to say it would deploy its full fleet of 300 snowplows for the evening rush hour.
The heaviest snow was expected to hit northern Indiana, where powerful winds blowing off of Lake Michigan could keep snow piling up past midnight and bury the area in up to 18 inches.
The winter weather warnings from the National Weather Service also stretched southwest through all of Illinois and into Missouri, where several inches had fallen by early morning, leading to school closures and downing power lines. Blizzard warnings were posted for counties in eastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana.
By mid-morning, real estate agent Debora Auble had shoveled snow and salted sidewalks at three homes and her downtown office in Champaign, Illinois. She wasn’t exactly enjoying it.
“No, not at all. To be in and out of it is pretty brutal,” she said as police cleaned up following what appeared a minor traffic accident outside her office caused by slick roads. “And the roads are really treacherous. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the snow blowing that you can’t see the traffic lights.”
Just about every school was closed in Champaign. But students at the University of Illinois, which almost never closes, had to trudge through biting, wet snow.
Bands of heavy snow extending from St. Louis to Chicago caused several semis to jack-knife and power lines to fall on Illinois highways. Winds left behind 3-foot-high snow drifts on one interstate. The state police said travelling was “extremely dangerous” and urged people not to venture out unless they had an emergency.
Some schools also closed in Michigan in anticipation of the snow. Flint, which was expected to get 8 to 12 inches, has been dealing with lead-tainted water crisis, and officials urged residents to make sure they have enough filters, cartridges and bottled water on hand.
Motorists were also warned that there could be no visibility at times on the state’s roadways.
The winds were causing waves as high as 14 feet to crash into the Chicago’s Lake Michigan shoreline, and forecasters warned residents to expect minor flooding and beach erosion.