Travel Chaos as Heavy Winds Leave Thousands Without Power in Northwest

At least three people were killed in a blast of wintry weather that brought whiteout conditions and fierce winds from Colorado to Kansas on Tuesday, forcing airlines to cancel flights, and leaving hundreds of thousands in the Northwest without power, NBC News reported.

A windstorm reached as high as 119 mph in the Cascade Range of western Washington state while 49 mph gusts battered the Puget Sound region, The Weather Channel reported.

Nearly 300,000 people were still in the dark as of 5:30 a.m. ET Wednesday, and Spokane Public Schools announced classes were canceled Wednesday due to the outages.

Meanwhile, more than 100 drivers were stranded alone Interstate 70 in Colorado as the storm dumped 20 inches of heavy blowing snow, shutting down almost 175 miles of the highway from the Denver area to Goodland, Kansas, on Tuesday while ice closed 55 miles of Interstate 25 in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.

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