Nation IN BRIEF : NATIONWIDE : Snowstorms Sweep Nebraska, Kansas

Blizzard conditions paralyzed central Nebraska and blowing snow shut down traffic in western Kansas after a night of thunderstorms and tornadoes. “The wind was blowing so hard the snow was horizontal,” Howard County, Neb., Sheriff Ron Bryer said of conditions at the scene of a traffic accident in which two people were killed. Fire trucks that were being used to warn oncoming vehicles of the accident shut down because wet, driving snow clogged their engines, Bryer said. Wind gusting to 70 m.p.h. across western Texas tore roofs off buildings, knocked out power and uprooted trees, causing dozens of injuries. At Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, two airline mechanics were knocked unconscious by lightning.