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US Midwest, East Coast Hit By Extreme Winter Weather

by Associated Press

   A winter storm of snow, freezing rain and bone-chilling temperatures
   socked the nation's mid-section and East Coast on Saturday, causing
   hundreds of accidents on icy roads and putting a crimp on Christmas
   shopping.

   At least nine deaths were blamed on the slick roads and authorities
   were investigating a few other traffic fatalities as possibly
   weather-related. Perhaps the biggest accident happened in Baltimore,
   when a tanker carrying gasoline skidded off a highway and exploded,
   authorities said.

   Two people died in the nearly 70-vehicle pileup on Interstate 95,
   authorities said. Hospital officials said nearly two dozen people were
   treated for injuries including broken bones and head trauma.

   Cause of crash

   Baltimore City Fire Chief Roman Clark said it was too early to
   determine the cause of the crash.

   It was unclear whether the pileup started before the tanker crash or
   was caused by it. The northbound lanes of I-95 were closed while crews
   cleaned up the mess.

   Winter weather advisories were posted from Denver to Bangor, Maine.
   Airports reported hundreds of flight delays or cancellations,
   interstates and toll roads reduced speed limits and authorities urged
   drivers to use extreme caution.

   The nasty weather put a damper on holiday plans for Luke Perez, who was
   hoping to make it home to Los Angeles on Saturday for a family party.
   Perez's flight out of D.C., where he is in graduate school, was
   canceled, so he said he's going to try again Sunday or Monday.

   "My family has a Christmas party ... and I was hoping to make it to
   that tonight, but that's not going to happen anymore," the 23-year-old
   said.

   There were dozens of crashes in Indiana -- two of them involving
   fatalities -- due to freezing rain and ice, officials said. It was not
   immediately clear how many people were killed. The roads were so slick
   that authorities had to move motorists stranded on an overpass with a
   ladder.

   Traffic deaths

   In Ohio, a Columbus woman died Saturday when her car skidded off a
   slick road, authorities said. In another accident in Baltimore, six
   people were taken to the hospital after a crash on I-695 involving 15
   to 20 vehicles, Baltimore County tweeted.

   In Nebraska, Douglas County Sheriff's deputies said one person was
   killed Friday night when his car slid off an icy road north of Omaha,
   hit a tree and burst into flames.

   Temperatures plummeted and people braced for the cold. Temperatures in
   the Minneapolis-St. Paul area were expected to drop to minus-20 degrees
   overnight. People were advised to stay indoors for the weekend. The low
   temperature was expected to reach 4 degrees in Chicago on Sunday.

   Portions of six states, from Missouri to Mississippi, were under the
   threat of tornadoes or severe thunderstorms.

   In Virginia, a Fairfax County fire truck slid off an icy road while
   responding to a crash, local news media reported. No one was injured.

   Crashes

   Meanwhile, more than three dozen crashes and a fatality were reported
   in the northern part of the state, authorities said. Police said a man
   was found dead on the side of I-495, about a mile from a 23-vehicle
   crash. It appears the man was involved in the crash and had walked away
   from disabled vehicle. It wasn't immediately clear how the man died.

   At least three highway deaths Friday in Missouri are being blamed on
   icy conditions.

   The Missouri State Highway Patrol crash reports ay a 13-year-old girl
   died from injuries suffered in an accident when a tractor-trailer lost
   control on ice on Interstate 44, striking a Jeep Renegade driven by the
   girl's mother. Reports say two men, ages 72 and 56, died in separate
   accidents when the vehicles they were in went out of control on ice.

   In Colorado, up to a foot of snow fell in places, snarling traffic.
   Even weather-hardened locals apparently had trouble driving.

   "I worked for the fire department for 45 years, and we used to call
   this highway hockey because people keep bumping into each other," said
   Kevin Sweeney, of Brighton, a town about 20 miles northeast of Denver.
   "I think it's that first big snow thing."

   In North Carolina, police and emergency workers reported more than 100
   crashes overnight in Raleigh and Charlotte as the drizzle combined with
   temperatures below freezing to create dangerous icy patches.

   Charlotte police reported two people killed in separate fatal crashes
   early Saturday, although investigators were still trying to figure out
   if ice caused the wrecks.