http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/11/28/midwest.blizzards.ap/index.html

well, he killed some people with the weather, this loving, caring creator
sure does like to kill people doesn't he?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/11/28/midwest.blizzards.ap/index.html

well, he killed some people with the weather, this loving, caring creator
sure does like to kill people doesn't he?

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Blizzard conditions closed hundreds of miles of
major highways across the Plains states Monday, part of a treacherous system
that also sent tornadoes ripping through Arkansas and Kansas.

Six-foot drifts were common in eastern Colorado and western Kansas, the
National Weather Service said. Winds up to 60 mph piled drifts 3 feet high
in Pierre, South Dakota, where state government offices were closed. Snow
fell as far south as the Texas Panhandle.

Three highway deaths were blamed on the weather.

Most of a stretch of more than 330 miles of Interstate 70 was closed Monday
because of poor visibility in blowing snow from the Denver area east to
Russell, Kansas, stranding travelers trying to head home after Thanksgiving.
One accident involved up to 25 cars Sunday.

"We'll just go when it's safe. We have a four-wheel drive vehicle but that
doesn't make you any safer in this," said Julie Ward of Wichita, Kansas, who
got one of the last rooms available at the Tyme Square Inn in Limon,
Colorado.

More than 300 stranded travelers were put up for the night in Goodland,
Kansas, at a National Guard Armory, a church and a fieldhouse. Others slept
on pews at the First Baptist Church in Limon, Colorado.

"You can't even see," said Bill Kanitig of the Sherman County, Kansas,
sheriff's office. "The highway is snowpacked, and it's slick and everybody's
sliding off."

The South Dakota Highway Patrol shut down a 175-mile stretch of I-90 on
Monday from Kadoka to Mitchell. In central Nebraska, a 60-mile stretch of
I-80 was closed Monday from North Platte east to Lexington. Numerous other
highways were closed across the Plains.

The National Weather Service posted blizzard warnings, in effect through
Monday afternoon, for parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.
A winter storm warning was issued for parts of North Dakota.

Wind, snow and ice snapped power lines and blacked out thousands of
customers in eastern South Dakota. "A couple of the lines around Huron had
icing to the diameter [of a] softball," said Tom Glanzer, a spokesman for
NorthWestern Energy.

Tornado damage
High wind or tornadoes destroyed at least eight homes in Arkansas. Officials
planned to assess other reports of damage Monday. About 7,500 homes were
without power in Arkansas late Sunday, Entergy spokesman James Thompson
said.

A tornado damaged more than 30 homes at Fort Riley, Kansas. A fort
spokesman, Army Maj. Christian T. Kubik, said 17 families were homeless.

"We were fortunate nobody was hurt," he said. (See tornadoes touch down in
Kansas -- 1:22)

Grass fires driven by the storm system's wind blackened thousands of acres
in parts of six Texas counties and in Oklahoma. Several homes were destroyed
in the two states and hundreds of families had to evacuate in Oklahoma,
authorities said.

In the Colorado mountains, the storm brought 26 inches of new snow to the
Steamboat Springs ski resort over the weekend. Two cross-country skiers were
found in good condition Sunday after being missing overnight about 25 miles
north of Steamboat Springs.

One driver was killed Sunday near Little Rock, Arkansas, when a suspected
tornado scattered debris across a highway and overturned cars, police said.

In South Dakota, a man was killed when his car went out of control on ice.

One person was killed in a collision involving three tractor-trailer rigs
and a pickup truck in Nebraska.