Plains States Dig Out After Early Winter
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CHICAGO — Residents of the Northern Plains dug out Wednesday from the first snowstorm of the season, a pre-winter blast that left more than 1 million people without power and at least five people dead.
Trees snapped by high winds claimed the lives of two people in Wisconsin, one in Michigan and one in Kentucky. A slick highway was blamed for a Minnesota traffic death.
One fatality was a 70-year-old Wisconsin fisherman who brought his boat to shore as the storm gathered strength, only to be struck on the head by a falling tree, police said.
At one buoy on Lake Michigan, 20-foot wind-driven waves were recorded every nine seconds overnight.
Downed power lines killed two people: one in Illinois and one in Wisconsin.
The powerful storm, which produced a wind gust of 93 mph in Lacrosse, Wis., also set records for the lowest barometric pressure recorded in the upper Midwest. In Duluth, Minn., the pressure dropped to a record low 28.48 inches of mercury Tuesday.
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