Winter ice, flooding slow down Missouri

Wet, stormy weather brought ice and flooding to parts of the state Wednesday.

A flood watch was in effect until early this morning for Cape Girardeau County and other parts of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. The rain was forecast to end overnight, reported the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky.

The weather service said between three-quarters and one inch of ice fell on the Kansas City area, where more than 17,000 customers of Kansas City Power & Light still were without electricity Wednesday night. That was down from 30,000.

Also affected: 21,700 customers of Aquila Inc., mostly in Kansas City suburbs such as Blue Springs and Grain Valley. In Lee's Summit, more than 6,100 Aquila customers were without electricity.

The winter storm spread a smear of ice and snow from the Rockies to the Northeast. School closings were reported from New Mexico to New Jersey, and hundreds of travelers were stranded across the country.

As snow fell Wednesday afternoon in the Kansas City area, operations at Kansas City International Airport were resuming slowly after all flights were canceled Tuesday night. Airport spokesman Joe McBride said about half of the flights scheduled Wednesday morning got out.