Des Moines, Iowa ? Travelers were stranded Saturday along highways in parts of Iowa and Illinois as plows struggled to keep up with a storm that spread blowing, heavy snow from the Plains all the way to Maryland.

Slippery pavement and blowing snow made driving a struggle from eastern Nebraska through Ohio. The flying snow caused near whiteout conditions in parts of Illinois.

“There are cars in the ditch, but there’s too many to count,” said Lt. Rob Hansen of the Iowa State Patrol.

“We’re not pulling anything out because it’s not safe for the tow trucks to be out there,” Hansen said. “We’re trying to get to the folks in their vehicles and give them a ride to someplace warm and dry.”

Some motorists also were stuck in their cars after sliding into ditches in central Illinois, where up to 12 inches of snow was possible around Peoria, police said.

“It’s bad. You’ve got snow on top of ice that was laid down earlier today. Now you’ve got high winds that are blowing the snow, so we’ve got whiteout conditions,” said Lt. Dave Johnson of the Sangamon County sheriff’s office.

The heaviest snow by midday Saturday was in eastern Nebraska and Iowa; Omaha, Neb., and Des Moines each had 9 inches. Strong wind piled the snow into drifts. Up to 7 inches fell overnight in central Ohio, that region’s largest snowfall so far this winter.

Edgar Espinoza, 12, shovels the sidewalk in front of Lindo Mexico Restaurant in Burlington, Iowa. Espinoza, whose parents own the restaurant, was shoveling the sidewalk Saturday. Several inches of snow and freezing rain hit the area overnight, and snow continued throughout the day.

A 54-year-old woman died at a hospital from her injuries after her husband lost control of their car Friday on an icy road just south of Lincoln, Neb. While weather was blamed for many other minor traffic mishaps throughout the day Saturday, the Nebraska State Patrol said it received no other reports of serious injuries.

In Ohio, a semi-truck slid into the pillars of an overpass on Interstate 270 in Columbus, shutting down traffic for several hours.

Columbus school officials postponed the city’s high school basketball championship game, and libraries and community centers were closed or opened late.

But the heaviest potential snowfall — 18 to 30 inches by this evening — was likely in the central Appalachians around Elkins, W.Va., the National Weather Service said.

“This is by far, by far the biggest of the season and potentially very much more hazardous,” said John Victory, a weather service meteorologist in Charleston, W.Va.

The storm was fueled by abundant moisture flowing north from the Gulf of Mexico, said Cathy Zapotocny, a weather forecaster in Nebraska.