Cold weather in Texas has led to the cancellation of nearly 1,500 flights across the country and the shutdown of traffic on the Interstate through Arkansas.
Austin, Texas, has seen numerous car collisions with at least one death, according to the Austin Fire Department. In Travis County, Texas, which includes Austin, police and sheriff’s deputies have been responding to new crashes about every three minutes since 8:00 a.m., according to the Austin-Travis County Traffic Report page.
More than 700 flights to or from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and more than 250 flights to or from Dallas Love Field were canceled or delayed Tuesday, according to FlightAware tracking service. At Dallas-Fort Worth, a major US hub, more than 40% of flights were cancelled.
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines has canceled more than 500 flights and delayed more than 250, according to FlightAware.
In Arkansas, Interstate 40 was iced over Tuesday morning and “extremely dangerous” in the Forrest City area, according to the city fire department. Photos posted on social media show the crumpled cab of the semi-trailer.
The department responded to two major crashes and about 15 other crashes Tuesday morning, department chief Jeremy Sharpe said by phone. In many crashes, drivers pick up speed on the highway but run into problems when they get to the bridge, he said.
“They hit the ice and start breaking apart,” he said.
“When I-40 closes like this, it can take hours of waiting,” said John Gudberry, who lives in Colt, Arkansas, near the highway. up to its slight elevation.
By late Tuesday morning, I-40 was cleared and traffic resumed, the Arkansas Department of Transportation said. An interstate highway connects Little Rock, Arkansas with Memphis, Tennessee.
The storm began on Monday as part of “several rounds” of winter precipitation expected Wednesday in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee, National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Chenard said.
“Typically, light to moderate freezing rain results in fairly significant ice formation,” Shenar said.
“We are expecting ice accumulation potentially a quarter of an inch or higher than far south, in Austin, Texas, to Dallas, Little Rock, Arkansas, towards Memphis, Tennessee, and even approaching Nashville, Tennessee,” — Chenard said.
The flight disruptions followed Southwest’s December crash, which began with a winter storm but continued after most other airlines recovered. Southwest has canceled about 16,700 flights in the last 10 days of the year, and the US Department of Transportation is investigating.
The weather service issued a winter storm warning for most of Texas and parts of southeastern Oklahoma, as well as an ice storm warning for central Arkansas to western Tennessee.
Winter weather advisories are in place for most of the rest of Arkansas and Tennessee, as well as most of Kentucky, West Virginia, and southern parts of Indiana and Ohio.
Schools and colleges in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas planned to close or move to virtual learning on Tuesday.
