Weather continues to cause travel problems
By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
Slippery roads and blowing snow caused havoc with holiday travel this year.
A lot of folks found themselves rearranging Christmas schedules because of snow and ice storms that bullied their way across the country, beginning mid-week last week.
Snow drifts and blustery winds continued to cause whiteouts on Christmas Day and into Saturday.
By early afternoon Saturday, Interstate 70 was closed to westbound traffic from Colby to Limon, Colo. I-70 was closed to traffic both ways on the 75-mile stretch from Burlington, Colo., to Limon.
The local forecast by the National Weather Service calls for more cold, windy weather the next several days, with temperatures staying below freezing until Monday.
Highs aren't expected to get much above the low 30s all week, but there are at least some sunny days in the forecast.
Despite driving conditions that were treacherous at times, only one injury accident in northwest Kansas was reported by the Kansas Highway Patrol since Christmas Eve as of Saturday morning.
A Garden City woman was flown to a Denver hospital Thursday for injuries suffered in a one-vehicle accident on Christmas Eve.
Francisca Parra-Portillo, 46, was riding in a car driven by 19-year-old Julius Ray Stephani, Garden City, who lost control on an icy roadway 10 miles south of Oakley on U.S. Highway 83 at about 5 p.m.
The vehicle struck a guardrail and came to rest in the west ditch,
Stephani was wearing a seat belt and was not injured according to the KHP. Another passenger, Sergio Parra-Portillo, 51, also was wearing a seat belt and didn't report any injuries.
Francisca Parra-Portillo, who was not wearing a seat belt, first was taken to the Logan County Hospital in Oakley, then transported to Swedish Medical Center in Denver.