Hazardous winter weather impacted a large part of the country this week, causing widespread power outages and poor road conditions that led to deadly crashes.
At least six people died on slick Texas roads since Monday, including a triple fatality crash Tuesday near Brownfield, about 40 miles southwest of Lubbock.
Two law officers were seriously injured, including a deputy who was pinned under a truck. He had stopped to help the driver of an 18-wheeler that went off an icy highway on Tuesday before being hit by a second truck, according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. He is expected to survive.
First responders rushed to hundreds of car collisions, with Gov. Greg Abbott warning travelers to stay off the roads.
1 DEAD IN TEXAS, MORE FLIGHT CANCELLED AS NATIONWIDE ICE STORM RAGES ON
"The roadways are very hazardous right now. We cannot overemphasize that," he told residents.
Arkansas's Interstate 40 was also ice-coated and the Forrest City Fire Department responded to two bad wrecks and 15 other crashes on Tuesday morning. By the late morning, the Arkansas Department of Transportation announced the interstate had cleared.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency due to the storm. In Tennessee, Memphis-Shelby County Schools announced classes would be canceled on Wednesday due to freezing rain and hazardous road conditions.
The weather began Monday as part of several rounds of precipitation expected to hit Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee.
The National Weather Service in the Dallas-Fort Worth area said it had set a new daily snowfall record of 1.3 inches, beating one set in 1985.
"Travel conditions will continue to be hazardous into Wednesday night and Thursday with more sleet and freezing rain expected," the office tweeted. "Temperatures will slowly climb above freezing in central Texas Wednesday night and Thursday morning across most of north Texas."
Watches and warnings had extended up to West Virginia, with impacts expected through Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
