State copes with storm's aftermath Rain, ice, snow create problems

for motorists, utility services

By CHRIS VETTER

and SARA SYVERSON

Journal Staff Writers

NEW ULM -- Parts of New Ulm lost power early Tuesday morning after freezing rain and snow covered the area. The weather also caused most schools to close for the second straight day.

In New Ulm, official snowfall measured 3.5 inches and moisture .93 inches, for a 24-hour period ending 5 p.m. Tuesday. In western Minnesota, the precipitation was mostly snow, and six to 10 inches were expected in the southwest.

Classes were canceled at New Ulm Public, New Ulm Cathedral, Sleepy Eye, St. Mary's, and most other districts in the area.

However, Nicollet Public Schools opened two hours late rather than missing an entire school day. At least 200 school districts either canceled or delayed classes.

Because schools were closed, many post-school activities, such as sporting events, also were canceled.

Most New Ulm residents didn't realize they had lost electricity until they woke up Tuesday morning to blinking alarm clocks.

Greg Smith, electric distribution supervisor for New Ulm Public Utilities, said electricity was lost in two sections of town. All power was restored by 8 a.m., Smith said.

An electric feeder that serves Center Street from Washington to North Highland lost power around 4 a.m. Most homes west of North Highland immediately lost electricity, Smith said.

The power loss was caused by tree branches -- heavy from frozen rain -- falling onto power lines and disrupting electric flow.

A city crew was out early to fix the problem and restored power in that area by 6 a.m., Smith said.

An underground cable malfunctioned on the east side of town early Tuesday, causing a blackout from 1st North to 20th South streets, between Valley and Front.

Power was re-routed around that cable and restored to that neighborhood shortly after, Smith said.

Smith is not sure what caused that cable to malfunction, but added that it is probably 35 years old. Crews were investigating the situation to determine the cause of the failure.

Cable television also was lost early in the morning but was restored by mid-morning.

Lance Leupold, director of public affairs and programming for Time-Warner Cable, said the outage was caused by the power failure in town. When power was lost at 6 a.m., a backup generator kicked in, but it failed at 6:30 a.m., Leupold said.

"The whole system went down," Leupold said.

Cable service was restored between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., he added.

The Mankato District Highway Patrol handled numerous incidents due to the unusual combination of ice, rain and snow late Monday and into the early morning hours Tuesday.

The Patrol responded to six property damage accidents, two minor personal injury accidents, 15 vehicles in the ditch, three jack-knifed semis, and six rolled vehicles.

Ice-laden trees fell onto traffic lanes on Hwy. 169 south of St. Peter and Hwy. 68 west of Hwy. 60. Power lines and power poles were reported down at Hwy. 19 on the west edge of New Prague. Intermittent power outages were reported in Mapleton, Waseca, Janesville and Waterville.

Department of Transportation crews were out all night and full crews went out early Tuesday morning.

The heavy rain caused havoc around the state. The Minnesota Department of Transportation issued a statement Tuesday afternoon warning against travel on highways west of Worthington.

"Good driving conditions only lasted a short time west of Worthington as winds picked up and are blowing snow across the roadways, creating slippery conditions," the press release states.

About 1,000 customers in Waterville, east of Mankato, lost power Monday night when two distribution lines were knocked out by the storm, said Xcel Energy Inc. spokeswoman Mary Sandok. And 300 customers in Lafayette also lost power.

Bill Harrison, a Weather Service forecaster, said the storm was caused by a strong push of warm air from the Gulf of Mexico that collided with a shallow layer of cold air near the ground.

"It's a very unusual amount of moisture feeding this far north for January," he said.

The collision of air masses created heavy fog in some areas of the state, and was blamed for three deaths in car crashes across the state.

A Northwest Airlines spokesman said the airline canceled about 240 flights Monday, most of them traveling to and from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The airline also prohibited children from traveling alone Monday, a standard procedure during bad weather.

About 100 people spent the night at the airport, while another 1,000 or so headed to hotels because of canceled flights.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.