CHICAGO, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- A winter storm swept through the U.S. Midwest Saturday, where at least five people were killed in crashes on slick roadways, including a woman and her 14-year-old stepdaughter, local media reported.
Missouri was worst hit in the storm, with the National Weather Service reporting more than a foot of snow. The storm covered roads and made driving dangerous. Part of Interstate 44 near St. Louis, Missouri, was blocked for several hours Saturday.
Most of the flights at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis were either canceled or delayed.
By Saturday afternoon, Missouri troopers had responded to more than 3,000 calls for help, involving more than 700 crashes and 1,300 stranded vehicles.
In central Missouri, about 12,000 households and businesses suffered power failure at one point, local media reported.
The snowstorm also hit Chicago, the third largest U.S. city, which has put a Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 3 a.m. (0900 GMT) Sunday.
Weather map of the National Weather Service shows the snowstorm moved into Kansas and Nebraska from the Rockies on Friday, then went eastward into Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.
It is expected that the storm will bring three to six inches of snow to Washington D.C. and some areas in northern and central parts of Maryland on Sunday before reaching into the Mid-Atlantic region.
