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Northeast Readies For Winter Storm

Dec 13, 2007 | Staff | CBS News

Deadly twin winter storms that froze the nation's Midwest earlier this week are heading east.

"Moderate to heavy snow will be rapidly developing across the Northeast, with most areas away from the immediate coastline picking up between 4 and 8 inches before it all comes to an end later at night," says CBS News meteorologist George Cullen. "Areas right along the shore and points south of New York City will see a mix or change over to sleet and rain, which will drop amounts into the 2- to 3-inch range, but any way you look at it, traveling delays will be widespread by the midday hour and the evening commute for millions will be quite an adventure."

On a day already considered ripe for gridlock because of holiday-season crowds, New York City's salt trucks were loaded early Thursday, and rules requiring drivers to move parked cars were suspended for the day. In northern suburbs expected to get as much as eight inches of snow, some schools were closed, and residents had stocked up on shovels.

Meanwhile, power was restored to thousands in the Midwest as utility crews struggled to repair power lines snapped by the winter storm that encrusted the country's midsection in ice and was blamed for at least 32 deaths.

"Sunshine will send the mercury into the mid and upper 30s across the ice-covered Plains. That's the good news," says Cullen. "The bad news is that a new storm will be dropping snow across this same area on Friday."

On Wednesday, Oklahoma - which was hit the hardest - still had a half million homes and businesses without power, and utility officials warned it could take a week to 10 days to get electricity fully restored.

President Bush issued an emergency disaster declaration Wednesday, which authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide financial assistance to help the state clean up.

Dozens of shelters in churches and community centers offered food and a warm place to sleep, especially for the poor, the elderly and families with young children who had nowhere else to go.

Tasha Berry and her large family finally came in from the cold, after taking turns staying in their two-door Pontiac Grand Am car.

"We had to literally take shifts ... just to stay warm," she said.

A part of Oklahoma City's convention center opened Wednesday night as a shelter for the hundreds left homeless by the storm, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan. Some had their first warm meal or bed in days.

They've spent the last three days of their life spending what money they did have going into Christmas, and some of them are really strapped.

Red Cross worker Vince HernandezThe costs of heating homes or evacuating those homes without heating are making an expensive season even more costly.

"They've spent the last three days of their life spending what money they did have going into Christmas, and some of them are really strapped," said Red Cross worker Vince Hernandez.

"We're really not worried about Christmas. If we have Christmas we do, if we don't, we don't," Berry told Sreenivasan. "It's just all about keeping warm and keeping safe ... and staying together. That's a good enough Christmas for me."

Nearly 800 utility workers, from a half dozen states, are working to restore power.

"This is a storm of absolute historic proportions, certainly in terms of damage and the number of power outages across the state."

The deaths reported included 21 in Oklahoma, and others in Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, and Nebraska.

Most of the fatalities were the result of traffic accidents on icy roads, but carbon monoxide was blamed for the death of an Oklahoma City woman and a northeast Oklahoma man who were trying to heat their homes with generators, authorities said.

Many of those without power chose to stay home and deal with the frigid conditions.

"I have a gas stove. It won't get the house warm, but it warms up the kitchen a little bit," said Kennette Hughes, who has been without power since Monday. "As long as I'm in bed, I'm pretty warm. I've got a down comforter, and I'm wearing a sweat shirt, sweat pants, turtleneck and socks and leggings."

Wayne Wooldridge lasted only one cold, dark night in the frigid house he volunteered to watch for his son, who is deployed overseas for the U.S. Air Force.

"I can get bundled up pretty warm in the house, but there was no light at night," Wooldridge, 68, said Wednesday at an Oklahoma City shelter. "We get spoiled."

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has declared disaster areas in five counties. In southern Iowa's Wayne County, where power was out for much of the region, officials set up six shelters, said Bill Yeager, emergency management coordinator.

"We're transporting people almost continuously right now," Yeager said. "In the rural areas, we've had the power companies tell us it'll be from three, to five, to seven days before we get it restored."

Hillary Rodham Clinton, campaigning in Iowa, was stranded in the Midwest and could not make a New Jersey fundraiser. She had her husband substitute. Rudy Giuliani canceled an Iowa event scheduled for Thursday morning.

As the storm approached the Northeast, the New York City Sanitation Department put workers on 12-hour shifts to spread snow and plow streets. Commissioner John Doherty said he expected a lot of clearing would be done by the evening rush hour, but "it's probably going to be a little bit slow."

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey - which runs the region's major airports, along with several bridges and tunnels - said it also was preparing to deploy extra workers and hundreds of snow-removal vehicles, including some that can work at 35 mph.

Some airlines, including Continental and Delta, were letting passengers reschedule for free if they were scheduled to travel to or from local airports Thursday or Friday.