Helicopters bring hay to snowed-in livestock

DENVER – National Guard helicopters dropped emergency food bundles and bales of hay for people and livestock trapped by snowdrifts as high as rooftops Tuesday after back-to-back blizzards paralyzed the Plains.

At least a dozen deaths were blamed on a weekend storm that knocked out electricity to tens of thousands of people in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma and left herds of cattle without food. The blizzard spread a blanket of snow on top of the icy layer left by a storm just before Christmas.

Because of rising temperatures, many highways were clear, but many rural roads remained impassable, and National Guardsmen used Humvees and snowmobiles to reach people trapped in their homes and take them to shelters.

Colorado also launched a haylift in hopes of saving thousands of cattle immobilized by drifts as high as 10 feet. In 1997, a similar storm killed 30,000 in the state.

“Most of my cattle haven’t seen food since last Thursday, when the snow started,” said Tony Hall, who has 200 head on a ranch near Lamar, Colo. “Wherever they were standing when the snow piled up, that’s where they are now. Every day, it’s getting more crucial.”

Seven military helicopters dropped 500 bales of hay Tuesday to feed cattle in the hardest-hit areas, Colorado officials said.

National Guard helicopters also dropped Meals Ready to Eat, or military rations, outside people’s houses, Sgt. 1st Class Steve Segin said.

In the Oklahoma Panhandle, a dozen troops went door to door in Humvees, checking on rural residents snowed in without power for days. Col. Pat Scully said the priority was to reach people who might have medical problems.

“We have no reason to believe anybody is hurt, but we did think it was necessary to do some welfare checks,” said Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

At least 21,000 customers in western Kansas were without power, along with at least 29,000 customers in Nebraska and more than 6,000 in Colorado and Oklahoma. Some utility officials warned it could take weeks to restore electricity.