Snow Closes Schools, Halts Mail Delivery

Snowdrifts 15 feet high stranded travelers in the central Appalachians on Wednesday as National Guardsmen helped residents dig out from a storm that brought up to two feet of snow over the eastern third of the nation. For the first time in seven years, mail deliveries were canceled in several Ohio cities.

The storm also bought heavy rain to the Northeast, flooding roads in Pennsylvania and forcing evacuation of low-lying mobile home parks. Rain caused scattered road washouts in Maine, and high wind gusting to 50 m.p.h. knocked out power to at least 500 homes.

Bad weather has been blamed for 39 deaths since Saturday.

Schools and some government offices were closed Wednesday from Michigan to northern Georgia. Wind and ice-laden power lines and branches had caused blackouts during the night affecting thousands of persons.

Motorists Seek Shelter

Eastern Kentucky got 14 to 24 inches of snow and winds blew it into drifts up to 15 feet high. As many as 250 motorists left their vehicles for shelter in Montgomery County, about 45 miles east of Lexington.

Residents “just couldn’t get home. They had to abandon their vehicles and we took them to the Civic Center, churches, schools, fire departments to get them into housing to keep them from freezing to death in the cars,” Montgomery County sheriff’s deputy Bob Harvey said Wednesday.

Widespread power outages in eastern Kentucky’s Pike County late Tuesday prompted officials to arrange to keep two schools, a fire department, a church and a business open for persons needing shelter. Similar shelters were established in Floyd County and in Ohio’s Licking County.

South of Chicago, hundreds of travelers went to shelters Tuesday night in Kankakee and Iroquois counties after drifting snow closed Interstate 57 and others roads. The Red Cross put up 115 in Kankakee, the Ashkum Coliseum took in 363 and motels were swamped by more than 600 unexpected guests.

State Offices, Schools Shut

Kentucky state offices operated with skeleton staffs Wednesday, and scores of schools closed. Some schools closed again in northern Georgia because of icy roads and Tuesday’s foot of snow, and schools were closed in 34 Michigan counties.

Eighteen inches of snow fell at Logan, W.Va., with winds up to 40 m.p.h. causing drifting, and about 9,000 households across the state were without power Wednesday.

About 40 Kentucky National Guard troops were dispatched to help clear roads and provide emergency transportation, Dick Brown of the state Office of Disaster and Emergency Services said.

Ohio Gov. Richard F. Celeste declared emergencies in four counties in southern Ohio, where up to 16 inches of snow fell, allowing the National Guard to use its vehicles to clear roads. Half of the state’s 88 counties declared snow emergencies and several banned all except emergency vehicles from roads.

‘Worst I’ve Ever Seen’

“This storm is the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Mayor William R. Sheridan of Ironton in southern Ohio, where up to 13 inches fell.

Mail service was canceled in the Ohio cities of Middletown, Portsmouth, Ironton and Waverly. Thousands of Ohio residents were without power during the night, but Ohio Power Co. official Lenzie Hedrick said most service had been restored by late Wednesday morning.

Stormy weather continued Wednesday in parts of Michigan, with an additional 3 to 6 inches of snow expected. State House of Representatives Speaker Gary Owen canceled Wednesday’s session for a second consecutive day.