Nasty U.S. winter storm turns deadly

OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A deadly storm hit the U.S. Northeast Wednesday after leaving behind hundreds of smashed cars and thousands of homes without power from Oklahoma to Maryland.

Emergency services officials in several states said the storm was blamed for at least 17 deaths and more than 1 million homes across the Midwest were without power, CNN reported.

Kentucky set up 45 shelters to take people in after hundreds of thousands of homes were left in the dark.

"One of our biggest concerns is (providing) power generators, especially for nursing homes out in the western part of the state that are without power," Jay Blanton, spokesman for Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, said.

Fayetteville, Ark., police officer Dan Baker said "absolutely everything" in northwest Arkansas was "at a standstill."

"It's hard to walk, let alone drive," he said. "It looks like tornado damage."

The storm caused flight delays in New York, Washington, Dallas, Philadelphia and Newark, N.J., the Federal Aviation Administration said in a Web site posting.

AccuWeather.com said northern New England was bearing the brunt of the storm Wednesday evening and heavy snow would spread over Atlantic Canada through the night. The snow was piling up at 1 to 2 inches per hour, and total accumulation from the Adirondack Mountains to New Brunswick was expected to reach 12 to 18 inches.

National Weather Service meteorologist Bruce Sullivan said the storm could leave up to a foot of snow in parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and New England, USA Today reported.

As the system marched through the nation's midsection Tuesday, inch-thick ice encrusted trees, snapping limbs and downing utility wires in Arkansas and Oklahoma, leaving about 150,000 customers in the dark, state and local officials said.

Schools caught in the storm's snowy and icy path closed, turning college campuses into ghost towns.

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry declared a state of emergency in all 77 counties, USA Today reported.