Snowstorm slams road, air travel in US Midwest

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A deadly late winter storm dumped heavy snow on the Midwestern United States, contributing to numerous highway crashes and flight cancellations as it moved  east toward the OhioValley and the mid-Atlantic states.

More than 1,000 flights were cut in and out of Chicago’s

O’Hare and Midway airports and 107 more were canceled in and out of Minneapolis-St.PaulInternationalAirport, according to the FlightAware.com flight tracking service. In Chicago, where the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning through midnight, residents were girding for between 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 cm) of snow, much of it expected to fall around the evening rush hour.

At a late morning press conference hosted by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications said nearly 300 snow plows were working to keep roads clear in the city.

Temperatures above freezing in many parts of the city were helping those efforts, OEMC said, turning much of the fallen snow into water.