A crash during a blizzard Saturday killed two children from Kansas and caused the closure of a 220-mile stretch of Interstate 70 east of Denver to Colby.

A car carrying the two children from Garden City was slowing or stopped as snow fell on westbound I-70 when it was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer 22 miles east of Limon, Colo., near Arriba, the Colorado State Patrol said.

Two adults in the car, also from Garden City, suffered moderate injuries in the crash and were taken to Lincoln Community Hospital in Hugo. The children were believed to be between 10 and 13 years old, the patrol said. It was unclear if the children and adults were related.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, Norman Osborne of Denver, was cited for careless driving causing death and injury.

Visibility in western Kansas was limited to less than half of a mile as wind gusts topping 65 mph blew snow and caused drifts, the National Weather Service said.

A winter storm warning was in effect through midnight for much of western Kansas, the weather service said.

Strong winds were expected for much of the state through Saturday night, the weather service said.