BY JOSEPH BUSTOS
AND PHIL HARTMAN SVN REPORTERS
A Wisconsin woman was killed and her husband injured about 9 a.m. Friday when their motorhome was blown off icy Interstate 39 about six miles north of Rochelle, Illinois State Police said.
Joan J. Degroot, 61, and her husband, Lawrence J. Degroot, of De Pere, were northbound when high winds pushed the motorhome onto the shoulder. Lawrence Degroot lost control of the motorhome, which went down an embankment, flew over a creek and crashed into the embankment on the opposite side, state police said in a news release.
She was killed; he was taken to Swedish American Hospital in Rockford; his condition was unavailable Friday night.
Both Degroots were wearing seat belts, the release said.
The Ogle County fatality was the worst of a slew of weather-related accidents across the Sauk Valley Friday.
Ogle County Sheriff Greg Beitel said his department fielded close to 100 weather-related calls, and at least 800 weather-related calls were made to Ogle County 911 between 6 a.m. and about 6 p.m. Friday.
"We anticipate there will continue to be visibility problems past midnight. Baileyville Road between Forreston and the north county line is closed because of drifting and near-whiteout conditions. We believe there were at least 20 vehicles on Baileyville Road in the ditch or involved in crashes. Deputies are reporting it's continually in whiteout conditions. The state has brought in additional equipment to try to keep state Route 26 open," Beitel said.
Whiteside County sheriff's deputies also reported lots of vehicles in ditches, as did the State Police.
"We've got cars in ditches all over the place. It's worst along Interstate 39. We advise people to slow down," state police Master Sgt. John Clark said.
Friday, winds blew from 30 to 46 mph or more at at times.
The area will be buffeted again today, although not quite as strongly - the forecast calls for a 60 percent chance of snow flurries, with winds of only 20 mph. Expect a high of 25, and a low of 15. Sunday will be sunny with a high of about 37, and temperatures will warm to the 40s next week, forecasters say.
Drivers weren't the only travelers hard-hit by the storm. In Chicago, about 500 flights were canceled at O'Hare International Airport as the bad weather generated messy travel conditions throughout the Midwest and East Coast.
Chicago aviation officials blamed poor weather in other parts of the country for most of the delays, but they said strong winds and snowfall also reduced visibility at the city's airports.
Flights that were not canceled at O'Hare were running between 15 and 90 minutes behind schedule, department of aviation spokeswoman Wendy Abrams said. Midway Airport, meanwhile, was reporting fewer than 10 cancellations.
Friday's winds made it difficult to make accurate snowfall measurements, National Weather Service meteorologist Charles Mott said. About an inch of snow was expected to fall in the northern half of Illinois between Friday afternoon and this evening, the Weather Service said.
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