Wintry conditions cause outages in northern Plains
2008-11-06

Category Winter Storm Nations U.S. States Nebraska South Dakota Category Regions Source (AP)

OMAHA, Neb. - A wintry blast of ice, snow and heavy wind blasted the upper Plains states, knocking out power and forcing highways to close.

In western South Dakota, blizzard conditions prompted the closure of a section of Interstate 90, and no-travel advisories were in effect in several counties.

Blizzard warnings were issued for parts of North Dakota, including the city of Bismarck. In Dunn County, in the southwestern part of the state, road foreman Eldon Rohde said the wind was blowing about 40 mph and estimated about 4 inches of snow had already piled up Thursday morning.

Nebraska Public Power District said more than 2,600 customers in the town of Scottsbluff lost their electricity Wednesday, and more than 1,100 were still without power Thursday morning.

A line failure northwestern Nebraska also cut power to the small town of Pine Ridge, S.D., just across the state line. About 1,250 customers there were without power Wednesday night.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the northwest corner of Nebraska. Wind with gusts up to 60 mph were forecast, along with snowfall of up to 5 inches.