A wintry storm was pounding parts of the central Plains and Texas with heavy rain Saturday, threatening to coat some areas with dangerous layers of ice and exacerbating a flooding situation that has left at least three people dead near Dallas.
As of Saturday morning, ice storms have left nearly 60,000 people in Oklahoma City without power, according to power company OG&E’s Twitter account.
Downed power lines have been reported in nearly every community across central Oklahoma, CNN affiliate KOCO said.
Another 7,000 people are without power in and around Weatherford, according to Public Service Co. spokesman Stan Whiteford.
More than 7 inches of rain have fallen in the Dallas area from Friday into Saturday morning, leading to widespread flooding, and more rain is expected into Sunday.
The flooding led to at least three deaths, including one in Garland, northeast of Dallas. Benjamin Floyd, 29, was unable to get out of his vehicle before it was submerged Friday, Garland city officials said. The two other flooding deaths came in Johnson County, south of Fort Worth, county emergency management officials said.
Driver missing; sheriff’s deputy holds on to tree for hours
At least one other person was missing and presumed dead in Tarrant County, a situation that led to the dramatic rescue of a sheriff’s deputy who got caught up in floodwaters while trying to save her.
A vehicle carrying the 70-year-old woman was swept away by floodwaters there Friday morning, sheriff’s department spokeswoman Terry Grisham said.
During an attempt to rescue her, sheriff’s deputy Krystal Salazar got caught in the surging waters and had to hold on to a tree for two hours. Salazar was rescued, Grisham said.
Emergency crews in Texas were on standby Saturday in case the rain led to more flooding. Rescue boats were ready in Johnson County on Friday night, and crews from the Texas Department of Transportation were checking high-water hot spots and other places vulnerable to flooding, according to CNN affiliate WFAA.
Millions under winter weather, ice storm warnings
In parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, the storm was expected to bring bands of accumulating ice Saturday, a situation that could make travel difficult and leave thousands more with no power.
“If temps continue to fall, we’ll definitely see some refreezing of the wet roads,” Oklahoma Department of Transportation spokesman Cody Boyd told CNN affiliate KFOR. The roadways will “become ice overnight.”
About 2.5 million people were under an ice storm warning Saturday morning, including residents in the Oklahoma City area.
Freezing rain was expected from Amarillo, Texas, to just west of Kansas City.
Another 4 million people were under a winter weather advisory or freezing rain advisory. Flash flood watches were in effect for 11 million people from Texas to Missouri. One, for much of North Texas, is schedule to expire at 6 a.m. Sunday.
Oklahoma City is under a winter weather advisory and a flash flood watch, with western Oklahoma under an ice storm warning. Western Oklahoma is expecting freezing rain on Saturday morning with light ice into the night and Sunday morning. Light ice is also possible for Oklahoma City tonight and early Sunday morning for a brief period, with warnings to stay off roads, according to KFOR.
“Only thing we have to worry about now is the overpasses and bridges. Those are slick,” motorist Darvell Fountain told KFOR.
“We just come out from that direction, and we had to let off the acceleration, because we all got to sliding,” truck driver Field Barnes said.
“Drivers should be especially cautious when they’re traveling after dark, because there could be black ice they may not see on bridges,” Boyd said.