BISMARCK, N.D. — Crews fought mud and water Friday as they tried to restore power after a fierce storm spread a wintry mix across the Dakotas, while authorities worked to remove snow-stranded vehicles that littered an interstate highway hours after their occupants were rescued.
Blizzard warnings subsided, but thousands of customers in rural areas remained without power after freezing rain and high winds.
The Nodak Rural Electric Cooperative said it was trying to restore power to about 4,500 rural customers. Nodak president George Berg said that some areas got about 5 inches of rain and that the freezing rain and winds toppled power lines and poles along a 40-mile path in five counties.
“Our biggest obstacle is not the snow but all the mud and water,” Berg said. One crew in northern Nelson County had to use a motorboat to reach a downed power pole submerged in water, he said.
North Dakota’s deer hunting season opened Friday, and Steele County Sheriff Wayne Beckman worried that some hunters could mistake power crews for deer. Hunters and farmers also should be cautious of downed power lines, he said.
“It’s dangerous out there; those fully charged lines could come down and ‘zappo,’ ” he said.
Major North Dakota roads reopened Friday after blizzard conditions in the central and western parts of the state, but officials warned they were still icy and snow-covered.
In South Dakota, the Highway Patrol worked through the night to rescue people stranded in their vehicles on snow-clogged highways in the western part of the state. About 300 people had been helped by Friday morning, authorities told reporters.
A 180-mile stretch of Interstate 90, from central South Dakota to near the Wyoming line, was closed much of Friday while authorities removed stranded vehicles. Officials said I-90 was expected to reopen Friday evening.
The storm dropped at least 45 inches of snow near Deadwood, S.D., in the Black Hills. In southwestern South Dakota, 20-foot snowdrifts were reported on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. In both Dakotas, dozens of schools, agencies, businesses and attractions, including Mount Rushmore National Memorial, had to close.
