Massive storm disrupts last-minute holiday travel

“I’m thinking the runway should be cleared,” Teater predicted.

Nick Shogren, 56, and his 17-year-old daughter, Sophie, of Park Rapids, Minn., were flying to Cancun, Mexico, for a 10-day vacation in Isla Mujeres. They drove to Minneapolis on Wednesday, their usual three-hour drive taking an extra hour because of the snowstorm, and stayed at a hotel.

Shogren said they were looking forward to doing nothing but relaxing “if we can just get out of here.”

After dropping off their youngest son at the airport, Theresa and Frank Gustafson of Chaska, Minn., headed to the Mall of America in Bloomington, where shoppers were scarce.

“Now that we’re done getting people everywhere, we’re out enjoying the morning,” said Theresa Gustafson, 45, who was buying last-minute Christmas gifts.

The Gustafsons planned to head home afterward and stay in. They were hoping roads would be clear enough on Christmas for their oldest daughter to make the drive from a nearby town.

The storm began in the southwest — where blizzard-like conditions shut down roads and caused a pileup involving 20 vehicles in Arizona on Tuesday — and spread east and north, causing weather advisories from the Rocky Mountains to Lake Michigan.

Slick, icy roads were blamed for accidents that killed at six people in Nebraska, four in Kansas, one in Minnesota and one near Albuquerque, N.M. A dust storm south of Phoenix set off a series of collisions that killed at least three people Tuesday.

The same system was bringing heavy rain and powerful thunderstorms to parts of the Gulf Coast and farther inland. Officials in Arkansas closed part of Interstate 30 south of Little Rock on Thursday because of flooding after two days of heavy rain. High winds toppled a tree onto a home in Louisiana, killing a man, authorities said.

Strong winds and ice caused power outages in Nebraska, Illinois and Iowa.

The storm forced the closure of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota and led Gov. Mike Rounds to cancel travel plans and stay in Pierre for Christmas. Rounds declared a state of emergency Tuesday before the storm even hit.

On Thursday, the governor warned people not to be deceived by the lull in the storm, promising “it will get here.”