Rain and freezing rain has been spreading across the state today, weighing down trees and power lines, and causing many problems.
Dozens of schools are closed and more and more Iowa homes are losing power as the morning goes on, with the highest numbers in Taylor, Mills, Mahaska and Marion counties.
By late morning MidAmerican Energy said some 17,000 had lost power. MidAmerican is tracking the outages on its website. Alliant Energy is also tracking the outages and reporting some 34,000 people without power.
Virtually all outages are blamed on the winter storm moving across the state which forecasters say may coat some areas with an inch of ice, while other areas could see five more inches of snow. The Des Moines International Airport shut down due to the ice.
The rain is expected to turn to snow later today. The National Weather Service website has updates on the weather, and the state Department of Transportation website has info on the road conditions.
In Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, the storm is blamed in at least 18 deaths and left 600,000 without power.
