Flights canceled, traffic slowed because of freezing rain
Published 9:06 pm Monday, February 23, 2015
DALLAS — Freezing rain affected travel in nearly half of Texas on Monday, and winter storm warnings were issued in the northern part of the state.
Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights in and out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and some North Texas school districts called off or delayed the start of classes.
Forecasters said up to an inch of ice was possible in areas of North Texas through late Monday, when the freezing rain was expected to ease. Temperatures in Dallas on Monday morning were in the upper 20s and likely to fall through the day.
The North Texas Tollway Authority said it had nearly 100 trucks patrolling more than 90 miles of highways to apply sand or de-icer. Austin police said there were a few reports of icy overpasses.
In Temple, north of Austin, officials opened an emergency warming center for people who are homeless and others who are looking to escape frigid temperatures that dipped into the 20s.
In many parts of Dallas, Fort Worth and other areas affected by the weather, people appeared to be heeding winter warnings and staying off the roads. The weather delayed the trial of the ex-Marine charged in the shooting death of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle.
whose memoir, “American Sniper,” was the basis for the Oscar-nominated movie.
Prosecutors were to continue their rebuttal against the defense Monday in Stephenville, but icy conditions forced the proceedings to be canceled. The trial of Eddie Ray Routh will resume Tuesday.
Trees near Johnson City, west of Austin, had a thin coat of ice. Sleet was on cars in Kerrville, northwest of San Antonio, and a thunderstorm with sleet was reported in Parker County, near Fort Worth.
While tens of thousands of customers were affected by power outages early Monday, Dallas-based utility Oncor reported that number had fallen later in the day to about 5,000. Outages were reported north of Austin, in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, in the Odessa area in West Texas, and elsewhere.
In the Texas Panhandle, 4.3 inches of snow Sunday set a record at Dalhart, nearly double the old mark from 1973. Other Panhandle cities reported snowfall of 2 or 3 inches.
The Texas Department of Public Safety blamed icy roads for the death of Jamallh Roshan Clark, 31, of Amarillo, in a rollover crash Sunday on Interstate 27 in Hale County, just north of Lubbock.
Nick Wade, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation, said the problematic areas for road crews were in the northern part of the state, including the Panhandle where a multi-vehicle accident Monday on Interstate 40 west of Amarillo slowed travel.
