DENVER (AP) - Major highways were closed Monday as blizzard conditions wreaked havoc from Colorado across the Plains states, part of a treacherous system that also sent tornadoes ripping through Arkansas and Kansas.
The wind piled snow into drifts up to 3 feet high in central South Dakota around the capital city of Pierre, where state government offices were closed until at least noon. Snow fell as far south as the Texas Panhandle.
Three highway deaths were blamed on the weather.
A stretch of more than 150 miles of Interstate 70, Colorado's major east-west corridor, remained closed Monday morning from Denver to the Kansas line, stranding travelers headed home after Thanksgiving. Officials shut the highway because up to 25 cars were involved in an accident as blowing snow cut visibility nearly to zero.
"We'll just go when it's safe. We have a four-wheel drive vehicle but that doesn't make you any safer in this," said Julie Ward of Wichita, Kan., who got one of the last rooms available at the Tyme Square Inn in Limon, Colo.
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There was no word Monday when I-70 might reopen.
In central Nebraska, a 60-mile stretch of I-80 remained closed Monday from North Platte east to Lexington.
The National Weather Service posted blizzard warnings, in effect through Monday afternoon, for parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. A winter storm warning was issued for parts of North Dakota.
Roads in the Dakotas were covered with snow and ice and drivers were stuck for miles around Fargo, N.D., where schools were closed.
"It is bumper to bumper," North Dakota Transportation Department district supervisor Bruce Nord said. "There's slush on the road. It's just unbelievable, the traffic. When one goes in the ditch, it takes three or four people along."
Wind, snow and ice snapped power lines and blacked out thousands of customers in eastern South Dakota.
High wind or tornadoes destroyed at least eight homes in Arkansas. Officials would assess other reports of damage Monday. About 7,500 homes were without power in Arkansas late Sunday, Entergy spokesman James Thompson said.
A tornado damaged more than 30 homes at Fort Riley, Kan. A fort spokesman, Army Maj. Christian T. Kubik, said 17 families were homeless.
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"We were fortunate nobody was hurt," he said.
In Texas, wind gusts of more than 50 mph toppled a 66-foot tall Christmas tree at Fort Worth and fanned grass fires that destroyed at least six homes. No injuries were reported. Amarillo collected up to 3 inches of snow, the weather service reported.
A second storm system was moving into the Northwest, and the weather service issued a heavy snow warning for areas including the Columbia River Gorge between Oregon and Washington. An earlier wave of rain and sleet was blamed for a series of accidents Sunday on Interstate 5 near Arlington, Wash., and nine people were hospitalized.
In the Colorado mountains, the storm brought 26 inches of new snow to the Steamboat Springs ski resort during the weekend. Two cross-country skiers were found in good condition Sunday after being missing overnight near the Mount Zirkel Wilderness about 25 miles north of Steamboat Springs.
One driver was killed Sunday near Little Rock, Ark., when a suspected tornado scattered wood from a lumberyard across a highway and overturned cars, police said. In South Dakota, a man was killed when his car went out of control on ice. One person was killed in a collision involving three tractor-trailer rigs and a pickup truck in Nebraska.
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Associated Press Writer Bill Draper contributed to this report from Kansas City, Mo.
