Ice Stalls Travel in Southwest; 22 Die : Sleet, Deep Snow Move East With Storm

Snow drifting up to three feet deep closed churches and airports and stalled travel Sunday in Oklahoma, as a storm blamed for 22 deaths rolled across the Plains.

Parts of western Texas also had snow and ice, and dozens of stranded travelers spent the night in churches.

As the storm moved northeast, freezing rain closed highways in Pennsylvania and New York, and 34 cars piled up in two chain-reaction accidents on an icy stretch of Interstate 87 near Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The accidents sent 23 people to hospitals, authorities said.

Philadelphia police closed 12 miles of Interstate 95 for 3 1/2 hours, and the New York State Thruway was closed from Albany County to the Massachusetts border because of ice.

Parts of Illinois got six inches of snow, and an American Airlines jet slid off a runway during the night at Chicago. No one was injured.

Chill Left Behind

Behind the storm, cold air lingered over the Southwest. Arizona had record low temperatures of 29 degrees at Yuma, near the Mexican border, and 20 at Tucson. It was the first time in nine years that Yuma had freezing temperatures, and it was Tucson’s second day of record cold.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol advised against unnecessary travel. Streets in Oklahoma City, which had nine inches of snow and drifts up to two feet deep by midday, were dotted with abandoned cars.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported some secondary roads were closed, with drifts “up to three feet deep and 50 feet wide.” Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers Airport was closed, air traffic controller Roy Womack said.

In the Texas Panhandle, eight inches of snow closed Amarillo’s airport Sunday, manager Bill Wilson said.

In Abilene, Tex., stalled and abandoned cars littered icy streets, police said. Vehicles were lined up for miles on Interstate 20 as truckers slowed to a crawl on the hills. Some tractor-trailer rigs overturned; others sat jackknifed on the shoulders.

Churches Become Shelters

Several churches in Texas’ Eastland and Callahan counties opened their doors Saturday night to dozens of stranded travelers.

In New Mexico, Los Alamos got 50 inches of snow but had passable streets Sunday. Many residents of rural areas around Moriarty, 40 miles east of Albuquerque, remained snowbound without food or medicines.

National Guard trucks were used Saturday and Sunday to take supplies to people, but Col. Alex Garcia said that even four-wheel-drive trucks had trouble with four feet of snow and seven-foot drifts.

The storm was blamed for 10 deaths in Texas, four in New Mexico, two each in Arizona, Oklahoma and Missouri, and one each in Colorado and Kansas.