Guard goes house to house in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS -- With hundreds of thousands of people in the St. Louis area still lacking electricity, the Missouri National Guard began going door to door Saturday to make sure residents were surviving the cold.

A massive winter storm that began Thursday dumped up to 16 inches of snow on some parts of central Missouri. In the St. Louis area, snowfall amounts -- generally in the 4- to 6-inch range -- weren't the problem. It was the thick layer of ice and freezing rain that fell for several hours before the snow arrived.

By Saturday morning, interstates, highway and most major streets were relatively clear. But there were dangerous spots -- "black ice" and snow drifts on the roadway. Some side roads were still slippery, and fender-benders and cars in ditches were still common.

But the biggest problems were continued outages. Ameren Corp. said 465,000 customers in Missouri and Illinois -- a roughly 200-mile swath from the Southeast Missouri town Jackson northeast through Peoria, Ill. -- could be without power for several days, largely due to ice that weighed down limbs, power lines and poles. Ameren urged people to avoid getting near any downed lines.

As of Saturday, about 245,000 Ameren customers remained without power in Missouri and 220,000 in Illinois, company spokeswoman Susan Gallagher said. About half of the outages are on both sides of the Mississippi River in the St. Louis area, she said.

"It could be days before it's fully restored because it's really treacherous out there," Gallagher said.

Gov. Matt Blunt activated the National Guard on Friday to help St. Louis and other communities cope with the storm's aftermath. On Saturday, he emerged from a briefing at the State Emergency Management Agency in Jefferson City saying he was generally satisfied on the state's response.

Blunt said 279 National Guard members have been sent to St. Louis, St. Louis County and neighboring Washington County and that a generator was being used to run the city of Potosi's water treatment system.

The governor noted that Interstates 70 and 44 were both reopened, but travel was still difficult in spots where heavy snow over a layer of ice complicated efforts to clear roads and restore power.

"Nobody really should travel unless you absolutely have to get out," Blunt said.

Blunt on Friday declared a state of emergency for the second time this year due to power outages. In July, another huge storm -- actually two over a three-day period -- left a half-million St. Louis-area homes without electricity. Then, the National Guard went from home to home to ensure residents weren't dying from 100-degree heat.

This time, the cold was the concern. Ameren had 1,500 workers attempting to restore power on Friday. An additional 2,000 were arriving from power companies in 14 other states to help, with many expected to arrive Saturday. Ameren also brought in workers from other utilities during the July outages.

State Public Safety Director Mark James said it could be five days before power is fully restored.

"This is a herculean effort that mother nature has dumped on us," James said.

He also said the warming centers and shelters in St. Louis County were not used very much Friday night so officials hoped that people were staying with family and friends.

Besides St. Louis, Blunt sent guardsmen to Festus, Farmington and De Soto to check on residents.

"We want to make sure our citizens are safe, warm and well cared-for," said Ed Martin, chief of staff for Blunt.

Low temperatures are expected to dip into the teens and low 20s for the next several days. Shelters opened in several locations.

Things were much improved at Lambert Airport in St. Louis. Hundreds of flights were canceled Thursday at the peak of the storm, and about 300 people spent the night in the terminal. But by Saturday, delays were generally 15 minutes or less, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

In Columbia, 17 snow removal trucks were running 12-hour shifts, but city officials said it will be days before all streets are cleared. Even street crews there have struggled to get by -- a few have slid off the roads themselves, said Mary Ellen Lea, operations manager for the Public Works department.

In northeast Missouri, most homes had power but many roads were still snow- and ice-covered Saturday, prompting civic leaders to urge people to stay home. In Hannibal, the Miss Hannibal pageant was postponed Friday due to the foot of snow that fell on the town.

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Associated Press writer Kelly Wiese in Jefferson City contributed to this report.