Over 260,000 homes in the Dallas area were without power on Friday morning after a major ice storm coated trees and power lines.
A meteorologist with Accuweather wrote that it could be the worst ice storm to hit the United States in years.
Operations Director for Entergy Mississippi, which serves 700,000 customers in Arkansas, said that power restoration for all customers who could potentially lose power would run up to seven days.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency issued a state of emergency for crews to mobile for the storm. Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe has declared a statewide emergency allowing crews extra powers to repair downed lines and damage to trees.
Up to 8 inches of snow is predicted for southern Missouri.
About 1,000 flights across the U.S. have been canceled on Friday including almost 700 in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Officials from Texas to Ohio are telling residents to prepare for the possibility of days without power and impassable roads as a major ice storm moves into their region.
The storm that dumped several feet of snow on the Rocky Mountains moved south thanks to the jet stream moving significantly further south than normal. The storm stretches from south of Dallas, Texas to north and east of St. Louis, Missouri. The storm is expected to bring anything from sleet to inches of ice.
Arkansas is believed to be receiving the brunt of the storm with parts of the northeastern part of the state forecasted to receive up to 2 inches of ice through Friday. Ice storm warnings were issued for parts of Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Officials said that major power outages are likely in areas forecasted for higher amounts of ice. They encouraged residents to prepare by stockpiling food and making arrangements to be ready to be without power for days.
Transportation experts said residents should also be ready to shelter in place as the ice could make roads impassable for at least a day.
The major storm making its way across the U.S. is now officially blamed for 11 deaths as it bears down on the East Coast in sync with Thanksgiving travel times.
Over half the deaths are in Texas with most released to ice covered roads. One woman was killed when a tree weighed down by ice fell onto her car.
The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings for large parts of the eastern United States through Wednesday afternoon. Forecasters predict big delays at some of the nation’s largest airports – New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Boston and Charlotte, North Carolina – are very likely.
Thanksgiving is one of the peak travel times of the year. Airlines for America, the industry’s lobbying group, say this year could see the most air travellers since 2007 with an estimated 2.56 million passengers. AAA estimates as many as 39 million people will be traveling by car Wednesday and Thursday.
The storm is expected to bring heavy rain to the south that could cause delays at southern airports like Atlanta.
A state of emergency was declared by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon Wednesday night as a severe storm roared through northern and central Missouri. St. Louis had at least three confirmed tornadoes rip through the nation’s 19th largest metro area.
Many residents are without power and many homes have been significantly damaged. Continue reading →