A deadly storm caused flooding and coated parts of the southern Plains in ice during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, dumped more rain on already swollen rivers in parts of North Texas and Arkansas on Sunday, and made driving dangerous in parts of Oklahoma, the Associated Press reported.
The band of storms that has been moving through parts of the Plains and the Midwest since Thursday has been blamed for at least 14 deaths, including eight in Texas and six in Kansas.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation said roads in the Panhandle remained slick after the slow-moving storm dropped ice and freezing rain in the region. Utilities in Oklahoma said the ice storms helped cut power to more than 71,000 as of Sunday afternoon.
In parts of North Texas and Arkansas, the concern was flooding, with flood watches and warnings in effect through Sunday evening.
In Texas, the areas of most concern sat near the swollen Trinity and Brazos rivers. Most of the rain was expected to taper off by Sunday night, but there remained a chance for showers into Monday, Matt Bishop, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, told the AP.
Midwest being hit
A second winter storm moving out from the Rocky Mountains will continue to dump snow, possibly heavy at times, along with some sleet and freezing rain from the Plains into the Upper Midwest through Tuesday, according to the Weather Channel. The snow will create potentially dangerous travel conditions in those regions, affecting metro areas such as Minneapolis/St. Paul; Sioux City, Iowa; and Sioux Falls, S.D. Up to a foot of snow is possible in some areas by the time the heaviest snow winds down later Tuesday.
As of Monday morning, the National Weather Service had posted winter storm warnings in parts of five states, including central Kansas, eastern Nebraska, eastern South Dakota, southwest/south-central Minnesota and the northwestern half of Iowa. Winter weather advisories are in effect across a larger area from northwest Oklahoma to northern Wisconsin and northeast Minnesota, where somewhat lower snowfall totals are anticipated.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.