Interstates reopen day after blowing snow stranded motorists

State transportation officials on Tuesday reopened Interstates 90 and 35 in southern Minnesota as road conditions improved a day after blowing snow forced closures.

I-35 between Albert Lea and the Iowa border and I-90 between Albert Lea and the South Dakota border reopened, along with all state highways that had previously been closed.

"It's very quickly improving," said MnDOT regional spokeswoman Rebecca Arndt.

A day earlier, a strong winter storm whipped up whiteout conditions.

"The road, everything would just disappear right in front of you," Arndt said.

Stranded motorists were sent to National Guard armories and about 200 students were kept at their schools overnight.

The Minnesota National Guard opened armories in Olivia, Marshall and St. James to motorists caught in the storm Monday. Minnesota Department of Safety spokesman Doug Neville says about 150 people sought shelter at the armories, at a law enforcement center in Windom and at a school in Luverne.

And in Westbrook, impassable roads kept 100 students overnight at the high school and another 100 at the elementary school.

Superintendent Loy Woelber tells KLGR Radio of Redwood Falls that students played basketball, danced, watched movies and played board games. The library and computer labs were open for students and tacos in a bag were served for a meal.

High school principal Bill Richards says students slept on wrestling mats with boys on one side of the gym, girls on the other and Richards in the middle.

"Most dropped off by 1 a.m. There were some who couldn't get to sleep because you've always got one that snores," Richards said. Local residents donated pillows and blankets, but some students were still cold, so Richards scoured the theater department for fur coats and other warm clothes.

"Some of them were in pretty fancy stuff for the night," he said.

Travel for those who did make it home was treacherous. Vern Seeman of Clara City says a drive that usually takes him 20 minutes took an hour.

"There were spots where I was driving on the rumble strips. That way, I knew where I was on the road," Seeman told the West Central Tribune. "I haven't done that for a long time and it just wasn't a fun trip."

Minnesota officials kept state offices closed until 10 a.m. Tuesday in Blue Earth, Brown, Faribault, Jackson, LeSeuer, Martin, McLeod, Nicollet, Nobles, Rock, Sibley, Waseca and Watonwan counties.

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Information from: West Central Tribune, http://www.wctrib.com

(MPR reporter Elizabeth Dunbar contributed to this story.)

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)