At least 6 dead as huge storm heads to Northeast
By Jim Van Anglen
Holiday travel is expected to be snarled as a major winter storm moves out of the South and into the Northeast on Wednesday.
MOBILE, Ala. — The death toll has risen to six from winter storms in the nation's midsection.
Two passengers in a car on a sleet-slickened Arkansas highway died Wednesday when the vehicle crossed the center line and struck an SUV head-on.
In Oklahoma, the Highway Patrol said a 76-year-old Wisconsin woman died Tuesday. She was a passenger in a car that was hit head-on when a pickup truck crossed into oncoming traffic on Interstate 44.
The Highway Patrol had earlier reported that a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash on a snowy highway near Fairview, Okla.
The storm's winds were also blamed Tuesday for toppling a tree onto a pickup truck in Texas, killing the driver, and another tree onto a house in Louisiana, killing a man there.
Video: Christmas storms bring heavy snow, twisters
More than 325 flights around the U.S. were canceled as of Wednesday morning, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. Most were at airports in the path of the storm.
Blizzard conditions were possible Wednesday for parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. By the end of the week, that snow was expected to move into the Northeast.
Rare winter tornadoes damaged buildings in Louisiana and Alabama. The storms left more than 100,000 in the region without power for a while, darkening Christmas celebrations.
Thirty-four tornadoes were reported in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama during Tuesday's outbreak, the National Weather Service said.
More: Check your flight for possible delays
Camera footage captured the approach of the large funnel cloud in Mobile, Alabama, the biggest city hit by numerous twisters. The storms blew the roofs off homes, and several places saw flash flooding.
A large section of the roof on the city's Trinity Episcopal Church was missing, said Scott Rye, a senior warden at the church.
On Christmas Eve, the church with about 500 members was crowded for services.
"Thank God this didn't happen last night," Rye said.
On Tuesday, winds toppled a tree onto a pickup truck in Texas, killing the driver, and a 53-year-old Louisiana man was killed when a tree fell on his house. Icy roads were blamed for a 21-vehicle pileup in Oklahoma, and the Highway Patrol said a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash.
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency, saying eight counties reported damages and some injuries. One likely tornado damaged a dozen homes and sent eight people to the hospital, none with life-threatening injuries, said Pearl River County emergency management agency director Danny Manley.
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Associated Press writers Jim Van Anglen in Mobile; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama, Jeff Amy in Atlanta, Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston, Chuck Bartels in Little Rock, Arkansas, Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans and AP Business Writer Daniel Wagner in Washington contributed to this report.
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