Icy storm takes 39 lives in Eastern states

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A storm blamed for at least 39 deaths in six states spread into the Northeast on Monday, coating trees, power lines and roads with a shell of ice up to a half-inch thick and knocking out power to more than half a million homes and businesses.

Ice-covered roads cut into Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observances from Albany, N.Y., to Fort Worth and Austin, Texas, where officials also canceled Gov. Rick Perry’s inauguration parade Tuesday because another round of ice was expected during the night.

The weight of the ice snapped tree limbs and took down power lines, knocking out electricity to about 135,000 customers in New York state and New Hampshire.

In hard-hit Missouri, the utility company Ameren said it probably would not have everyone’s lights back on until Wednesday night. Overnight temperatures were expected to drop into the single digits. As of Monday afternoon, about 312,000 homes and businesses still had no electricity.

Missouri National Guardsmen went door to door, checking on residents, and helped clear slick roads.

About 112,000 homes and businesses blacked out in Oklahoma, some of them since the storm’s first wave struck on Friday, also were still waiting for power Monday. Ice built up by sleet and freezing rain was 4 inches thick in places.

About 127,000 customers were without electricity Monday in Michigan.

More than 160 flights were canceled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Before dawn Monday, a car slid into the path of a dump truck on an icy New York highway in Sennett, 20 miles west of Syracuse, killing the car’s driver and two passengers.

A wave of arctic air trailed the storm and was expected to push temperatures into the single digits in some areas. Oklahoma officials strongly discouraged travel, saying the frigid weather would refreeze slush and water on roads.

Waves of freezing rain, sleet and snow since Friday had been blamed for at least 15 deaths in Oklahoma, eight in Missouri, eight in Iowa, four in New York, three in Texas and one in Maine. Seven of the Oklahoma deaths occurred when a minivan carrying 12 people slid off an icy highway Sunday and hit an oncoming truck.

Associated Press writers April Castro in Austin, Texas; Betsy Taylor in St. Louis; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; and Timberly Ross in Omaha, Neb., contributed to this report.