Icy Winter Weather Grips Southern States

As reported by USA Today, more than 250,000 homes and businesses across Texas were without power Wednesday, February 1, as frigid winter storms blasted much of the Southern United States. At least six people had reportedly died due to the brutal weather.

“These weather-related outages are widespread. Ice is bringing down power lines and tree limbs,” said Austin Energy on Twitter. The company reported that icy roads and frozen equipment were making it difficult to restore power.

Freezing rain, sleet, and accumulating ice created hazardous road conditions in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, according to CNN. In south Austin, Texas, one person died Tuesday in a 10-car pileup, while in the Dallas-area city of Arlington, a vehicle rollover caused the death of another person. Austin Police Department said on Twitter that it had responded to at least 215 collision calls Tuesday.

As of Wednesday, more than 30 million people from New Mexico to West Virginia were under some type of winter weather alert, CNN reported.

Dangerous weather was predicted to continue into its fourth day early Thursday morning in the Dallas-area, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), which issued more warnings of ice-packed, slick roadways for northern and central Texas. The NWS Weather Prediction Center (NWSWPC) also tweeted warnings of heavy rain and scattered flash floods for parts of the South and Southeast United States for Thursday. The NWS urged people in the affected areas to avoid driving and stay home if at all possible.

The icy storms currently being experienced in the South serve as a reminder to be vigilant regarding extremely cold temperatures—even for facilities in locations that typically experience much warmer weather. In order to be prepared, rather than surprised, check out Don’t Let Up on Winter Maintenance for tips on mitigating the effects of severe winter weather, Reducing Your Use of Rock Salt to learn environmentally friendly deicing methods, and, in light of the detrimental pipe bursts throughout the nation that are still plaguing some areas of the Southern states this season, Preventing Pipe Bursts in Your Facility.