Ice and Snow Cause Trouble Across Nation

Ice and snow blocked highways across the nation Monday as a broad storm piled up 4-foot snowdrifts and snapped power lines.

“This is ridiculous,” said motel clerk Erica Johnson in Bossier City, La., whose drive home to Shreveport was delayed when Interstate 20 was closed so crews could spread sand on the ice.

At least 200,000 utility customers lost power in Texas.

Two feet of snow had fallen by midday at Durango, Colo., closing all major mountain passes in the area, and an additional 3 feet of snow was possible in the region’s San Juan Mountains. The avalanche danger was high.

“I think you can say Durango and Cortez are going to be totally isolated for a while,” said Jan Brown, a sheriff’s dispatcher.

Temperatures near zero at Taos had about 100 people a day calling Hawk Mechanical for heating and plumbing repairs, said owner Max Stroback. “And they’re all panicking,” he said.

Slick roads closed schools from northern Arizona to Alabama.

Drifting snow in Utah shut down a 49-mile section of I-15 in the state’s southwestern corner and about 90 miles of I-70 in Utah.

A foot of snow fell at Flagstaff, Ariz., and drifts up to 4 feet high formed. Northern Arizona University canceled classes.

In Texas, nearly every major school district was closed in the Houston area, where roads were slushy and overpasses were icy.

About 180,000 utility customers were in the dark in the Houston area because of the ice. And 20,000 customers were blacked out in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area.

American Airlines canceled more than 100 flights early Monday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Other flights were delayed by the need to de-ice planes.