Northwest Iowa got buried with more than a foot-and-a-half of new snow. Estherville reports 16-point-eight inches of snow had fallen in the new storm, while other parts of the state got ten to 15-inches.
Travel is not advised in the region due to drifts four-to-six feet deep. Many businesses and schools are closed for the second straight day. County plows were pulled off the roads due to zero visibility conditions. It’s hoped they can get back on the roads today to start carving a path through the deep drifts.
Many thousands of Iowans lost electricity in this latest snowstorm. One estimate says 11,000 were knocked off the grid Thursday, which is on top of some 30,000 who were still waiting for power to be restored after last weekend’s ice storm.
Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative, which serves nine counties in northwest and north-central Iowa, had to leave 225 customers without power overnight due to the blizzard. The co-op hopes to restore power to them as soon as conditions allow and more outages are expected over the next two to three days.