A Stirring in the Midwest

Authorities struggled to remove abandoned cars and reopen still-slick highways across the nation’s midsection Friday after a record snowfall Wednesday and Thursday buried the region and stranded holiday travelers and shoppers.

A portion of Interstate 64 in Indiana reopened, a day after more than 100 stranded motorists were rescued from their snowbound vehicles. But the road remained treacherous because of hundreds of abandoned vehicles along a 25-mile stretch near the Illinois line.

Some churches canceled Christmas services to keep people off the road after much of Indiana was buried in as much as 2 feet of snow.

“We were not asking parishioners to be out when police say to stay in,” said the Rev. Dave Ferry, pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Bedford, Ind.

Next door in Kentucky, highways remained hazardous, temperatures dipped below freezing in many areas, and biting winds created 5-foot snowdrifts.

“They’re about half-scared to drive fast today,” state Trooper Barry Meadows said.

In Normal, Ill., wind chill readings below zero compelled Epiphany Catholic Church to warm the camel, goats and sheep in its live Nativity scene with king-size electric blankets. Mary and Joseph and the three wise men were given battery-powered heaters to carry in their pockets, and Jesus was played by a doll instead of a baby.

“That we wouldn’t want to risk,” Monsignor Eric Powell said.

I-40 reopened in parts of Arkansas, where stranded travelers took refuge in shelters.

Ohio faced a frigid temperature forecast today, and about 275,000 homes and businesses remained without power two days after the storm hit. Ice-covered tree branches kept falling onto power lines.

William and Janie Van Winkle had to leave their frigid apartment for a shelter in Newark, Ohio. They didn’t expect to have their power restored until Sunday, and were trying to isolate their 11-month-old son from other children at the shelter because he recently had surgery for a heart condition.

“We pictured his first Christmas as being perfect,” William Van Winkle, 29, said. “Things really changed.”

The Westfield Shoppingtown Southpark mall in suburban Cleveland decided to stay open three hours later on Christmas Eve, until 9 p.m., to make up for sluggish sales.

“The weather has put a dent in it and they want to recoup some of it,” said Tom Ford, a kiosk vendor.

In Chicago, where the temperature was not expected to break 6 degrees and the wind chill was well below zero, sales clerks outnumbered shoppers in Marshall Field’s flagship store Friday morning.

Shopper Mary Ann Holland, 57, was thrilled to see no lines. “I always come early on Christmas Eve,” she said.