Ice storm blamed for 36 deaths across 6 US states

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The remains of a winter storm blamed for 36 deaths across six US states spread in the Northeast, coating trees, power lines and roads with a shell of ice up to a half-inch (1-centimeter) thick and knocking out power to more than half a million homes and businesses. Waves of freezing rain, sleet and snow since Friday had been blamed for at least 15 deaths in Oklahoma, eight in Missouri, five in Iowa, three in Texas and four in New York and one in Maine. The storm also left more than half a million people without electricity in Missouri, Oklahoma, New York and New Hampshire on Monday. The remains of the storm system streamed toward New England on Monday, shutting down numerous businesses, day care centers and schools in Maine with a mixture of sleet and snow that made roads treacherous. Lower Michigan and parts of New England could see more than a foot (30 centimeters) of snow Monday, as rain fell from the lower Mississippi Valley up through the Ohio Valley, said National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Pedigo.