Holden declares state emergency after storm

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Bob Holden declared a state of emergency Thursday for west-central and northern Missouri after a winter storm left tens of thousands of residents without electricity.

The governor didn't specify all the counties included because the extent of the damage is not fully known, said Holden spokesman Jerry Nachtigal.

But the emergency will include at least Carroll, Cass, Clay, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Pettis, Ray and Saline counties, said Susie Stonner, a spokeswoman for the State Emergency Management Agency.

The declaration allows state resources to be funneled to local governments to respond and recover to disasters.

In the Kansas City area residents stocked up on flashlights and cooking gas Thursday as they bundled up for a cold night without power, or heat, with temperatures predicted in the teens.

Utility crews were called in from Minnesota to Texas and worked round-the-clock to restore power to roughly 300,000 households. Even so, power companies warned it could be four to five days before the lights come on.

Authorities blamed at least three deaths on the weather: Christopher D. Moles, 31, of Harrisonville died of carbon monoxide poisoning after running a gasoline-powered generator in his garage; one person died after a fall, and a crash in northeast Missouri killed a Quincy, Ill., woman.