The snowy debris of a collapsed roof in an Illinois nursing home offered just one snapshot of the wintry mayhem left in the path of the season's first big storm in the U.S.
The storm was blamed for at least five traffic deaths as it cut a swath from Texas to Michigan before moving Saturday into the Northeast. Its powerful winds caused three deaths and at least two have died shoveling heavy snow.
Hundreds of thousands were left without electricity. Schools and businesses were shuttered. Canceled flights stranded scores of airline passengers.
United Airlines canceled 914 flights nationwide as of Friday night, according to company spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. At Chicago's O'Hare Airport, American Airlines canceled all its flights before noon Friday.
In Peoria, Illinois, a nursing home roof collapsed into the building's cafeteria on Friday night but caused no serious injuries, said fire Division Chief Greg Walters. Four people were taken to a hospital, reportedly with cuts and bruises.
"The building administrator was there, and he heard a snap," Walters said. "He started seeing a collapse and got people moving out of there. His attention to detail may have saved some lives."
Cars and semi-trucks skidded off a highway in northern Illinois, bringing traffic to a standstill. State employees used snowmobiles to deliver sandwiches to stranded motorists, Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey said.
Two men died after shoveling snow in Wisconsin, which got up to got 14.5 inches, or nearly 37 centimeters, officials said. Forecasters warned people to be careful digging out of what they called "heart attack snow" - difficult to shovel because it is so heavy.
Chicago received 6.2 inches (15.7 centimeters) of snow, and many areas of Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri got more than a foot, or 30 centimeters.
About 500,000 customers in Illinois and Missouri were still without power late Friday night after ice snapped power lines and tree limbs. Ron Zdellar, vice president of the Ameren Corp. power company, said it would be days before all customers had electricity again.
The fire chief in the St. Louis suburb of Affton said an 87-year-old woman died early Friday in a house fire that started after an ice-laden tree limb fell on a power line, causing the fuse box in her basement to short-circuit.
As the storm moved east, gusty winds caused even more people to lose power from Tennessee to New York.
In Pennsylvania, a woman died when a tree fell on a car. One person died after a tree fell onto a house in Ellenville, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of New York City.
The combination of sleet, rain and snow made driving treacherous. In Milwaukee, the slippery roads were so hazardous that even a snowplow overturned.
Near Paducah, Texas, a sport utility vehicle carrying a high school girls' basketball team slid on an icy patch and tipped over, killing a 14-year-old player and injuring six teammates and the coach.
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