Weather Updates | Utility accident adds to storm death toll
PEDRO, Ohio — A utility worker has died while trying to restore power in southeastern Ohio, and people in Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin also died with much of the US in the grip of a massive winter storm.
Across the country, officials have attributed at least 18 deaths to exposure, icy car crashes and other effects of the storm.
Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative said in a statement that apprentice line worker Blake Rodgers, 22, died in “an electrical contact incident” near Pedro, near the state’s borders with both Kentucky and West Virginia. The utility said no further details were available.
In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear warned people Saturday to avoid Interstate 71, which links Lousville to Cincinnati, Ohio, after a series of accidents since Thursday night. Beshear said Friday that one person died in a traffic accident attributed to the weather in western Kentucky and a homeless person died in Louisville.
In Lansing, Michigan, an 82-year-old woman died at a hospital after being found Friday morning curled up in the snow by a snowplow driver outside of the assisted living community where she lived, police reported. The temperature in the area Friday morning was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-12.2 Celsius).
A 57-year-old woman died Friday after falling through ice on the Rock River south of Janesville, Wisconsin, just north of the Illinois linr, WMTV reported. Authorities said multiple agencies were called for a water rescue but could not see the woman through the ice.
Officials in Buffalo reported a death in that city, along with two others in a suburb after crews couldn’t get to people’s homes when they had medical emergencies.