At least two people have been killed in car crashes in Texas as a long-duration, crippling ice storm continues to slide across the region leading to treacherous driving conditions and mounting power outages. The storm is the result of a bitter blast of arctic air that is in place across the central U.S. and is expected to have a significant impact on the region over the next few days.
As Fox Weather reports, driving proved nearly impossible for morning and evening commutes for millions on Monday and Tuesday. Rain or slushy snow fell through warm air to the freezing surface below. That water then created a sheet of ice along the Interstate 35 corridor from Oklahoma City to Dallas. “Bridges and overpasses are considered treacherous,” White Settlement, Texas, police Chief Christopher Cook said in a tweet Monday. “People must slow down when approaching elevated surfaces.”
Austin-Travis County EMS said in several tweets that they were responding to crashes all over the region, including one in which two people either jumped or were hit and thrown from a bridge during a multi-vehicle crash in icy conditions. Several ambulances also responded to reports of a multi-vehicle crash that involved an auto-pedestrian collision. EMS officials said at least one person was killed.
Crashes have been reported elsewhere across the region and fire officials in Austin said they have responded to more than 90 crashes, including three with their own vehicles. Two fires have also been reported, and officials believe they were caused by space heaters.
On Tuesday morning, FOX 4 Dallas reported hundreds of drivers were stuck in a 20-mile traffic backup on Interstate 20 in Palo Pinto and Parker counties because of icy road conditions. Treacherous driving conditions were also reported along Interstate 40 in Forrest City, Arkansas. The Forrest City Fire Department posted photos to Facebook showing a mangled mess of tractor-trailers involved in a crash because of the icy road conditions. Images from cameras along I-40 in Arkansas show traffic at a standstill. I-40 was also closed west of Memphis, Tennessee, due to a major crash caused by icy road conditions.
Officials are warning everyone in affected areas across the region to stay home if at all possible.
Flights into and out of the region were also impacted, with Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) leading the pack with the most flight cancelations and delays. Dallas airports saw more than 500 flight cancelations as of Monday night. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said there was a ground stop in effect at DWF until at least 3:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, but that could be extended because of the ice storm.
More than 4,200 flights have been canceled or delayed nationwide because of the storm, with the biggest trouble spots located at DFW, Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL) and LaGuardia International Airport (LGA) in New York City.
Several schools in Texas decided to close early and cancel after-school activities because of the inclement weather, including the Fort Worth Independent School District. Oklahoma State University in Oklahoma City also decided to close campus at noon Monday. School districts have also made the decision to close on Wednesday, including the Austin Independent School District.
Generally, ice accretions of less than a quarter-inch are considered to be a nuisance, but impacts start to become disruptive once amounts close in on a half-inch or more. At around a half-inch, power outages can become numerous.
On Tuesday morning, power outages started to skyrocket. “One of the things we have seen pile up has been the number of power outages as well,” FOX Weather meteorologist Jason Frazer said. “When (Britta Merwin) and I first logged on at 6 a.m. for FOX Weather First, we saw only about 22,000, 23,000 customers without power.” Only hours later, those numbers jumped to 36,000 outages.
Energy companies Oncor and Austin Energy provide electricity for a large part of the area being impacted by the crippling ice storm but have so far reported low outage numbers. As the storm continues, however, power outages are expected to climb.
ATCEMS is also reaming people to not use stoves, ovens or grills to try and heat homes when the power goes out. Emergency officials said they have received a call for carbon monoxide exposure, which can be deadly. Anyone using a generator for electricity to heat their homes should follow proper safety precautions.
The National Weather Service has issued Winter Storm and Ice Storm warnings for millions of people living in Texas from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex southward through Waco and Austin, as well as to the west into Abilene, San Angelo and Junction.
Freezing rain has also been reported in parts of Arkansas and West Tennessee, including Little Rock and Memphis, respectively, leading to Ice Storm Warnings there, too. Ice accretions could reach upward of a quarter-inch in this region, likely leading to power outages and dangerous travel conditions.
From Tuesday into Wednesday, the FOX Forecast center expects continued precipitation to fall across most of Texas. While precipitation will begin to taper off in intensity, the freezing rain will continue to complicate the forecast, as multiple hours of it from Tuesday night into Wednesday could lead to another slippery commute Wednesday morning.
Overall, the forecast calls for upward of a quarter- to half-inch of ice to accrete starting along the I-20 corridor in West Texas, stretching eastward toward I-35, and eventually into parts of southeastern Oklahoma and southern Arkansas. A second area of ice upward of a quarter-inch is also increasingly likely across other parts of Arkansas and into West Tennessee.
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