From staff reports

Freezing rain coated the area with a sheet of ice Thursday, knocking out power, closing schools and cancelling activities, but the heavy snow forecast by some had not materialized locally.

Friday, March 15, 2002

Freezing rain coated the area with a sheet of ice Thursday, knocking out power, closing schools and cancelling activities, but the heavy snow forecast by some had not materialized locally.

Many communities lost power Thursday afternoon, including Alden, New Richland, Owatonna, Waseca and parts of Albert Lea. KATE radio lost power and was off the air for part of the afternoon.

Freeborn-Mower Cooperative reported this morning that power outages were widespread across Freeborn and Mower County. The cooperative has called in extra crews and hopes to have all the power back on by the end of today, a representative said. Adding to the confusion was a problem with the cooperative’s power-outage reporting phone number that caused some calls to go unanswered. Outages within the city of Albert Lea, lasting from a few minutes to hours, were also reported.

Though most of the worst weather hit north and west of Freeborn County, school officials in a number of districts weren’t taking any chances when they sent students home early and closed or delayed them today. Albert Lea and Glenville-Emmons schools were closed today, and USC, Alden-Conger, Lake Mills, Northwood-Kensett and NRHEG were two hours late. Thursday, USC, Alden-Conger and NRHEG all sent students home after lunch, and Glenville-Emmons had sent everyone home by 2 p.m.

USC postponed the informational meeting about the bond election that was scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. in Easton.

The boys basketball game scheduled for Albert Lea was also postponed Thursday, but was still scheduled to be played today at 3 p.m. Tiger’s Roar, the annual high school talent competition, was likely to be canceled tonight, a district representative said, although no official word was available by 8:30 a.m.

About 350 school districts in southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin canceled classes Friday, while numerous others started classes an hour or two late.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is expected to be packed throughout the weekend after roughly 300 flights were canceled Thursday. About 200 travelers were stranded there overnight and slept on cots.

At least 200 weather-related accidents were reported around the Twin Cities on Thursday, including a crash that killed two people in Plymouth.

A taxi traveling south on Interstate 494 crossed into the northbound lane Thursday morning and collided with a tractor-trailer. The driver and the passenger in the taxi died. The highway was closed for more than two hours.