Monster snowstorm to blanket more than half of United States

NEW YORK - A massive winter storm hit the US Rockies and Plains on Friday then punched east, with snow set to assault a 1,609-kilometer corridor through the weekend, creating transportation "havoc" in the middle of the country.

The system started as rain from Mexico and turned to snow as it met icy air. Up to 45 centimeters of snow were expected in the Sangre de Cristo mountains south of Denver, according to the National Weather Service.

As the storm heads east, up to 41 cm of snow were likely in western Missouri and St. Louis. Areas to the east could get about 15 cm with ice developing in Kansas, and Arkansas, and up to 10 cm of snow in Washington, DC, before the system heads out to sea late on Sunday, AccuWeather said.

"The storm is expected to create havoc over the central part of the country, then extend eastward into the Mid-Atlantic states," said Randy Adkins, an AccuWeather meteorologist.

The FlightAware.com flight tracking website reported 1,431 flight cancellations on Friday and 12,465 delays, with problems at snow-hit airports like Denver causing knock-on effects around the country.

While the storm will spare the heavily populated Northeast, it likely will disrupt air and auto travel from Kansas City to Indianapolis, and will bring the heaviest snowfall so far this winter to Cincinnati and the Ohio River Valley, said AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Walker.

Although the Kansas City area is expected to get up to 6 inches of snow, it should be over by the time the Kansas City Chiefs begin their National Football League playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday afternoon. 

St. Louis emergency management officials are bracing for auto travel disruptions and possible power outages, but based on current forecasts, are not expecting to be overwhelmed, spokesperson Tracy Panus said.

"This is not the first storm we’ve had in the St. Louis area," Panus, who is with the St. Louis County Police Department of Emergency Management, said by telephone.

As the system moves eastward, it will hand off to a second coastal storm on Sunday that will bring 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) of snow to the Washington, DC, area before it moves off the coast that night, Walker said.

"There could be a period of ice that we’re concerned about across portions of central North Carolina and back into the mountains," he added.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Boy, 10, dies on world's tallest water slide

CHICAGO - Authorities in the US state of Kansas on Monday were investigating the death of a 10-year-old boy on what is billed as the world's tallest water slide.

Caleb Schwab, the son of a Kansas state legislator, was killed Sunday on the Verruckt, a towering water slide at Kansas City's Schlitterbahn Water Park.

Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio told a news conference that it was the first such incident at the park.

"This is not something we've experienced," she said, adding that the park and the ride were closed pending the investigation.

The park gave no details on what happened to the boy, but said grief counselors were being made available to employees and guests.

"We are deeply and intensely saddened for the Schwab Family and all who were impacted by the tragic accident," a park statement said.

A message posted on Kansas City Police Chief Terry Zeigler's Twitter account said only that the department was investing an "apparent accident."

A GoFundMe page set up to raise funds for funeral expenses had generated more than $22,000 in donations on Monday.

The Schwab family expressed their sorrow and offered thanks for the support they have received from the Kansas City community.

"Since the day he was born, he brought abundant joy to our family and all those who he came into contact with,” a family statement said.

"As we try to mend our home with him no longer with us, we are comforted knowing he believed in his Savior, Jesus, and they are forever together now. We will see him another day."

A park website description of the water slide says two to three people are typically strapped to a raft and then sent down a "jaw-dropping" 168-foot, 7-inch slide (51.4 meters).

They are then "blasted back up a second massive hill and then sent down yet another gut wrenching 50-foot drop for the ultimate in water slide thrills."

Riders are supposed to be at least 54 inches tall (1.37 meters).

The Kansas City Star said the park was teeming with children of legislators and their parents enjoying free passes when the tragedy occurred.

The Verruckt, which means "insane" in German, opened in July 2014, after delays of more than a month due to technical problems.

Kansas City TV station KCTV reported that the park told the station at the time that the ride was "not behaving properly," after which netting was added around the slide.

The park is "tentatively" scheduled to reopen Wednesday, but the water slide ride will remain closed.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com