With the full force of a blizzard striking Siouxland Wednesday morning, schools have been called off, roads are closed in varying places and power outages have been widespread.
The Woodbury County Emergency Management agency at 7 a.m. advised residents to stay off roads. There have been crashes along Interstate 29 near Sioux City, and police said a segment of that major thoroughfare is closed for 70 miles from Sioux City south to Missouri Valley, as of 10:30 a.m..
The National Weather Service reported on social media that the heaviest impact of snow on roads appears to be in Woodbury, Plymouth, and Ida counties.
The power outages reported by MidAmerican Energy grew as the morning went on. There were a few thousand homes impacted about 8 a.m., and that was about 9,000 homes near 11 a.m.
People in the towns of Sioux City, Sloan, Lawton, Moville, and more had power outages that MidAmerican crews worked to fix.
The Blizzard Warning runs into Wednesday evening for much of the region.
The snowfall will start to taper off by early afternoon. Winds are expected in the range of 40 mph, so with whiteout conditions possible, travel is not recommended.
There was an internet outage through Sparklight in downtown Sioux City at one point.
