At least 5 dead as winter storm sweeps US Midwest

A winter storm has swept through the US Midwest where at least five persons were killed in road crashes, media reported.

Missouri was worst hit, with the National Weather Service reporting more than a foot of snow. The storm covered roads and made driving dangerous, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

Most of the flights at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis were either cancelled or delayed.

By Saturday afternoon, Missouri troopers had responded to more than 3,000 calls for help, involving more than 700 crashes and 1,300 stranded vehicles.

In central Missouri, about 12,000 households and businesses suffered power failure at one point, media reported.

The snowstorm also hit Chicago, the third largest US city, which has put a winter weather advisory.

Weather map of the National Weather Service shows the snowstorm moved into Kansas and Nebraska from the Rockies on Friday, then went eastward into Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.

It is expected that the storm will bring three to six inches of snow to Washington D.C. and some areas in northern and central parts of Maryland on Sunday before reaching into the mid-Atlantic region.

--IANS

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