OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A lethal storm system lashed a big swath of the southern U.S. with bands of sleet and snow for a 3rd day on Wednesday, grounding a further 2,200 flights, leaving lots of of 1000’s with out energy, forcing faculty closures and making already treacherous driving conditions worse.
Watches and warnings about wintry conditions have been issued for an space stretching West Texas’ border with Mexico by means of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, and into western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. Several rounds of combined precipitation, together with freezing rain and sleet, have been in retailer for a lot of areas all through the day, that means some locations may get hit a number of occasions, forecasters stated.
“It actually looks like it’s going to be getting worse again across Texas, it is already a pretty big area of freezing rain across western and southwestern Texas,” stated Bob Oravec, a lead National Weather Service forecaster primarily based in Camp Springs, Maryland.
Oravec stated the icy climate is predicted to maneuver northeastward throughout components of Oklahoma and Arkansas into western Tennessee and northern Mississippi earlier than it begins to dissipate.
“By later in the day on Thursday it should be pretty much done, and all the … precipitation will be well downstream across parts of the South and where it will be mostly heavy rain,” Oravec stated.
By late Wednesday morning, 2,200 U.S. flights had been canceled, together with three-quarters of the flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and greater than two-thirds at Dallas Love Field, in response to the flight monitoring service FlightAware.com. Dallas-Forth Worth International is American Airlines’ greatest hub, and Love Field is a significant base for Southwest Airlines.
Many flights have been additionally canceled at different airports, together with in San Antonio, the Texas capital of Austin, and Nashville, Tennessee, compounding frustrations brought on by the practically 2,000 cancellations on Tuesday and roughly 1,100 on Monday.
Nearly 260,000 energy outages have been reported in Texas, together with greater than 130,000 within the Austin, in response to PowerOutage, an internet site that tracks utility stories.
Pablo Vegas, who heads the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, vowed that the state’s electrical grid and pure fuel provide can be dependable and that there wouldn’t be a repeat of the February 2021 blackouts, when the grid was on the brink of complete failure.
As the ice and sleet enveloped Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis-Shelby County Schools introduced it could cancel lessons Wednesday as a result of freezing rain and unsafe highway conditions. The faculty system serves about 100,000 college students. The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis additionally closed because of the climate.
Also in Memphis, the icy climate delayed the funeral service for Tyre Nichols, who died following a brutal beating by police throughout a visitors cease. But extra icy climate was transferring in from the southwest simply forward of the funeral, which was pushed again just a few hours to Wednesday afternoon.
“The third and FINAL round of freezing rain and/or sleet will start this afternoon,” the National Weather Service’s Memphis workplace posted on social media Wednesday morning. The vanguard of a wintry combine of precipitation was about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Memphis late Wednesday morning, radar confirmed.
The Dallas faculty district, which serves about 145,000 college students, additionally canceled lessons Wednesday.
Emergency responders rushed to lots of of auto collisions throughout Texas on Tuesday and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott urged folks to not drive. At least six folks have died on slick Texas roads since Monday, together with a triple fatality crash Tuesday close to Brownfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Lubbock.
Two Texas regulation officers, together with a state trooper who was struck by a automobile whereas investigating a crash on Interstate 45 southeast of Dallas, have been critically injured, authorities stated.
In Arkansas, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency Tuesday as a result of of icy conditions. Her declaration cited the “likelihood of numerous downed power lines” and stated highway conditions have created a backlog of deliveries by industrial drivers.
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Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press author David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.
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