Ice Storm Paralyzes Parts of South

A deadly storm bearing ice and snow moved across the mid-southern United States on Wednesday, paralyzing Arkansas and Oklahoma with widespread power outages and ice-coated roadways.

Half a million people had no electricity as a layer of ice up to 2 inches thick toppled trees and snapped power lines from New Mexico to Arkansas.

Police said 16 people died in weather-related accidents after the storm started in New Mexico on Monday. As the system moved eastward, it dumped a record 20 inches of snow on northern Texas.

The storm caused Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating to declare his state a disaster area Wednesday.

Arkansas, still recovering from a fierce ice storm two weeks ago, appeared hardest hit, with highways closed around the state and 275,000 people left without power.

In western Arkansas, newspaper offices closed down for the first time in their history and the U.S. Postal Service suspended mail delivery.

The devastation was so widespread that Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee dispatched National Guard troops in all-terrain Humvees to search for people stuck in frozen buildings and disabled vehicles.

Brigades of chainsaw-wielding civilians cleared trees from streets and houses, while displaced people headed for makeshift shelters.

“It’s really the equivalent of having a nuclear device go off, without the mushroom cloud or radioactivity,” Huckabee told CNN. “Virtually everything is shut down. We have 11 or 12 counties where every single person has lost power, phone service and water.”

He spoke by cellular telephone, because the governor’s mansion had neither electricity nor a working telephone line. Huckabee said it was likely that some areas of his state would not have power for at least 10 days.

In Texarkana, which straddles the Texas-Arkansas line, officials ordered a nighttime curfew and froze all prices to prevent merchants from capitalizing on the city’s troubles.

“Everywhere you look, trees are snapped like matchsticks. Power lines are down everywhere, and most of the streets are impassable because we don’t know which lines are live,” said Texarkana resident Nita Fran Hutcheson, who has had no water or electricity at her home since Monday.

While the Arkansas state government closed down for the second time in two weeks because of ice, Oklahoma reopened its state offices. Nonetheless, officials warned residents to stay off treacherous roads, where accidents claimed three lives.

“Tell everyone to stay out of Oklahoma. We have power outages throughout the state; we have crashes everywhere,” state Trooper Brett Wallace said.

Airports were closed. American Airlines, which canceled 738 flights Tuesday at its hub at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, said 73 were grounded Wednesday.