Cars in Ditches, Visibility Near Zero : Blizzard Rakes Minnesota, N. Dakota

A blizzard cut visibility to near zero in parts of Minnesota and North Dakota, sending cars into ditches and stranding dozens of motorists for hours until National Guardsmen could rescue them Thursday.

“That area of the Red River Valley is flat as a pancake, and there’s nothing to hold back the wind but a few barbed wire fences,” Bill Togstad of the National Weather Service said of the storm, which began late Wednesday.

Snowbound motorists were put up for the night in hotels, an armory, a priory and even a liquor store.

‘Still Absolutely Zero’

“Visibility is still absolutely zero,” Sheriff Doug Qualley said Thursday morning in Polk County in northwestern Minnesota.

On the North Dakota side of the valley, one motorist slid into a ditch after apparently suffering a fatal heart attack, authorities said. No other injuries were reported in the storm, although authorities said more than 100 vehicles ended up in ditches.

The storm did not produce exceptionally heavy snowfall, but winds gusting to 40 m.p.h. kicked up high drifts and caused blinding conditions. The wind combined with subzero temperatures to make it feel like 40 to 60 degrees below zero, Togstad said.

Five inches of snow fell at Fergus Falls, Minn., 3 inches at Bemidji, Minn., and 2 inches was reported at Houghton and Marquette, Mich. Gale warnings were posted for all of the Great Lakes.

Below-Zero Temperatures

Temperatures remained below zero during the afternoon from northeastern Montana through much of North Dakota into much of western and northern Minnesota.

“When they tell you to stay with your vehicle, that’s a definite must,” said dispatcher Judee Butenhoff of the Polk County Sheriff’s Department at Crookston. “Don’t try to walk anywhere. You get lost and you freeze to death.”

A unit of the Minnesota National Guard in Crookston was called out by Gov. Rudy Perpich.

The guardsmen rescued about 17 motorists stranded along U.S. 2 between Crookston and East Grand Forks, Minn., said Lt. Col. Dave Pearson of the Guard’s public affairs office.

“The unit used an armored personnel carrier specially equipped with spotlights” to aid in blinding snow conditions, Pearson said.

Two Brothers Rescued

Two brothers from Crookston were rescued by the Guard after spending the night stranded in a pickup truck outside Crookston. Authorities said David Abrahamson, 33, and Rodney Abrahamson, 34, were tired and cold but otherwise all right after their rescue around 6:30 a.m.

Polk County Deputy Sheriff Jim Dudgeon said he had tried earlier to get to the brothers in his patrol car but almost got stuck himself.

David Abrahamson said he had taken along a kerosene heater as a precaution. “We just turned on the kerosene heater and waited. . . . We were all right, but I was just hoping the kerosene heater would hold out.”

All Hotels Filled Up

Polk County sheriff’s dispatcher Robert Janorschke said all hotels in Crookston, a town of around 8,000, were filled. Mount St. Benedict Center, a priory, opened its doors to about 150 people, including high school hockey and basketball players from East Grand Forks, Minn., who decided not to travel home after playing in Crookston, Sister Mary John said.

The Northland Lodge’s 59 rooms filled quickly, said the Crookston Hotel’s night auditor, Dorothy Nelson. “We have people sleeping in a banquet room on cots and on the floor with pillows and blankets,” she said.

Nitelife Inc., a liquor store in Fisher, Minn., put up 10 motorists for the night.

In the Northeast, morning lows dropped to zero across much of New York state and New England for the third consecutive day. The cold has sent the homeless scrambling to shelters.