Misery from winter storm continues; storm-related Missouri deaths at 14

~ More than 48,500 people remained without electricity.

MOUNT VERNON, Mo. -- The number of people killed in a winter storm that hit last week has increased to 14, the State Emergency Management Agency said Sunday.

Lawrence County initially reported that one person had died of carbon monoxide poisoning. But SEMA learned Saturday that two others also had died. The victims, Plumer McDaniel, 73, and his wife, Geraldine, 68, died Thursday in their home, the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. The couple had been running a portable generator in their garage.

Elsewhere, carbon monoxide was suspected of claiming two lives in Dallas County, one in Jasper County and one in Newton County. And weather-related traffic accidents killed one person in Dade County, one in Harrison County, three in Jackson County, one in Johnson County and one in St. Francois County, the agency said.

Even as the state continued to recover from the storms of Jan. 12 and 13, another storm Saturday dumped from 4 to 6 inches of snow and another half-inch of ice across some areas.

Bob Gaultney, who has been out of his house since last Friday due to loss of power, sits at a shelter at Praise Assembly Church in Springfield, Mo., Friday, Jan. 19, 2007. Gualtney, who had earlier been at a different shelter, was moved yet again later Friday afternoon. More than 77,000 homes and businesses, mainly in southwest Missouri, remained without power Friday, the State Emergency Management Agency said. (AP Photo/News-Leader, Dean Curtis)

As of Sunday, more than 48,500 people remained in the dark, down from a high of several hundred thousand after last week's storm, SEMA said. It reported that the storm that hit Saturday caused a few additional, scattered power outages.

Still, the number of people staying at emergency shelters continued to shrink as power was restored, the agency said.