DES MOINES, Iowa — Fierce winds ripped away the roof of a police station, thousands of people lost power and drivers stuck by closed highways settled in to wait as storms swept out of the West to the nation’s midsection Tuesday.
Much of the Upper Midwest was covered in deep snow, and strong winds Tuesday night were expected to create blizzard conditions.
The storm had already blanketed much of the mountain west and drenched Southern California with rain.
Ice was the problem Tuesday morning in Oklahoma, where Interstate 40 was closed for about 25 miles between Clinton and Elk City. Mitch Dodson, a trucker hauling soda, was parked at the TravelCenters of America plaza near the town of Sayre in western Oklahoma.
“It’s just a sheet of ice from Amarillo to here,” Dodson said. “It’s a disaster.”
With travel likely to get worse, officials were warning residents in parts of the west and Midwest to stay close to home. Blizzard warnings were issued for most of Iowa as well as eastern Nebraska, southern Minnesota and southern Wisconsin. A foot or more of snow was expected in parts of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. Wind gusts of up to 50 mph could create snow drifts of 8 to 15 feet.
Subzero temperatures caused a scene out of the movie “A Christmas Story” when a boy got his tongue stuck to a metal fence pole. Firefighters in Boise, Idaho, used a glass of warm water to free the boy, who they estimated was about 10 years old. Fire Capt. Bill Tinsley said the boy’s tongue was bleeding a little, but he was allowed to continue walking to school.
Heavy rain pounded some parts of the South. More than 4 inches fell in New Orleans.
