A blizzard dumped thigh-deep snow on some areas of the US upper Midwest on Sunday, playing havoc with travelers and causing the roof of a large stadium, the Metrodome, to collapse in Minneapolis.

The snow hit Wisconsin and Minnesota the hardest as it moved eastward toward Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported two deaths in a house fire in Minneapolis. A firetruck was delayed after getting stuck in the snow.

Blizzard and winter storm warnings were in effect for Chicago and parts of northern Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Michigan and North and South Dakota. Upward of 20 inches (51 cm) of snow fell on some areas, the National Weather Service said.

As much as 22 inches (56 cm) of snow fell in the metropolitan area of Minneapolis-St. Paul, local media said.

The snow-covered inflatable roof over the Metrodome tore and collapsed, allowing snow to plummet onto the playing field inside the stadium early on Sunday.

This prompted the National Football League to relocate a game between the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants to Ford Field in Detroit on Monday night. The game already had been postponed after the Giants were stranded in Kansas City when their charter flight was unable to land in Minneapolis because of the blizzard.

The Illinois State Police said Interstate 80 was closed Sunday after a massive crash involving 24 vehicles, including 7 semi-trucks. A spokesman said there were several serious injuries reported but no fatalities.

Disrupted flights

The Chicago Department of Aviation said about 1,375 flights were canceled at O'Hare International Airport and flights were delayed by at least 45 minutes. Another 300 flights were canceled at the city's Midway airport, where flights were also delayed. More cancellations and delays were expected as the winter storm intensifies.

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle declared a state of emergency for the state's 72 counties as a precaution, calling the National Guard to active duty to help local authorities.

"Conditions continue to deteriorate and it is becoming critically important for vehicles to stay off the roadways," Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent David Collins said.

In Wisconsin, wind gusts were as high as 70 miles per hour (113 kph), the National Weather Service said, and an advisory was issued with wind chill temperatures expected to drop to minus 20 degrees F to minus 27 degrees F (minus 29C to minus 33C).

More than 600 passengers and crew were stranded on a lake cruise near Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday night when the boat, the Branson Belle, ran aground amid high winds, a spokesman said. All the passengers were evacuated safely on Sunday morning.

There were some 3,300 outages in northern Illinois and nearly 6,000 in Wisconsin. Scattered outages were reported in Minnesota, Michigan and elsewhere.

The Metrodome wasn't the only bubble that deflated in Minneapolis. About 20 people were playing tennis at the Reed Sweatt Family Tennis Center on Saturday when the inflated bubbles began to collapse.

"The snow was so heavy it wasn't sliding off the roof fast enough," Mike Vidmer, the general manager, said. "It's not a good weekend for domes." – Reuters