Rain and ice in central US linked to three deaths in flash flooding
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Version 2 of 4. Forecasters said a band of storms moving slowly through the US midsection was leaving Texas on Saturday, but would likely dump more freezing rain on parts of Oklahoma and Kansas. At least five people died in accidents related to the ice storm, and another three died in North Texas flash floods. One person was missing. Thousands of people were without power as accumulated ice downed power lines. The National Weather Service (NWS) said the storms causing icy conditions in Oklahoma and Kansas were expected to last through Saturday night. Temperatures were expected to be above-freezing in the region on Sunday. With up to 4in of rain expected in north-east Texas and central Arkansas, a flash flood threat continues in North Texas and most of Arkansas. Rain was forecast Sunday from Texas to the Mid-Atlantic states. Freezing rain was expected in southern Nebraska and central Kansas. “There’s a pretty substantial shield of rain extending from parts of Texas across a lot of Oklahoma and into the mid-Mississippi Valley,” said John Hart, a meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma department of transportation spokesman Cody Boyd said road crews had been applying salt and sand since Thursday night, noting that roads there were slick and hazardous. “It is really a weather event with a lot of different aspects,” Boyd said Friday. “We definitely understand that people travel to see family and friends [for Thanksgiving], and have to travel back home. If people have to travel ... plan plenty of extra travel time and check conditions before they head out.” Freezing rain and strong winds have been blamed for several fatal accidents in Kansas and Texas since Thursday. The eastern half of Kansas is under a winter weather advisory until Saturday morning, with freezing rain and sleet expected. No highways in the Texas Panhandle and South Plains were closed despite the icy conditions, but about 100 crashes had been reported as of Friday evening, said Trooper Cindy Barkley of the Texas Department of Public Safety office in Amarillo. She advised motorists to slow down, noting that state troopers “see people passing us all the time. It’s so frustrating.” Forecasters have issued flash-flood watches and warnings from north-east Texas, eastern Oklahoma, southern Missouri and most of Arkansas. In North Texas, three people died after their cars were washed away in rapid floodwaters. At least one other person remained missing early Saturday, as conditions were too dangerous to search for a 70-year-old woman whose car was swept off a bridge in Fort Worth. A local sheriff’s deputy was swept away trying to rescue her, but a dive team later found and rescued the deputy, who was clinging to a tree. Already, a total of 55.23in of rain has been recorded at Dallas-Fort Worth international airport this year, topping the annual rainfall record of 53.54in set in 1991. Much of central and western Arkansas could see five to seven in of rain through Sunday, the weather service said, while the Ouachita Mountain region could get more than eight in. |