Published: January 16,2017
A 10-12 car pileup slowed traffic on Interstate 88 near the Quad Cities Monday morning amid icy conditions from Winter Storm Jupiter.
During its trek eastward, the storm has killed at least six, spreading freezing rain and ice that created dangerous road conditions from Oklahoma and Kansas to mid-Missouri and southern Illinois.
(MORE: Check the Forecast for Winter Storm Jupiter)
Multiple states declared emergencies ahead of the storm, and accidents – some fatal – have been reported across the region.
Illinois
Freezing rain was reported in the Quad Cites area Monday morning, where a 10-12 cars were involved in a pileup before dawn on Interstate 88. According to WQAD, some vehicles ran off the road, some were getting towed, and others have been able to drive away from the wreck.Energy provider Ameren said only a handful of customers were without power in southern Illinois, where heavy ice accumulated on trees in Jackson and Williamson counties.
Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kelsea Gurski said Friday that they were closely monitoring the forecast information and that crews pre-treated bridges and intersections in Sangamon and surrounding counties, the State Journal-Register reported.
Nebraska
Omaha Metro Transit canceled all bus services on Monday as roads remained slick.The ice-covered roads caused major problems Sunday, especially in southern Nebraska. South of Odessa, a weather-related crash involving two semi trucks closed both directions of Interstate 80 Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Images from the scene showed at least one tractor-trailer engulfed in flames, but the Nebraska State Patrol told the Associated Press that there were no injuries.
As the ice storm drew closer to Lincoln and Omaha, residents stocked up on supplies, according to Omaha.com. Officials urged everyone to stay off the cities' roads once the storm's icy side arrived, and were hopeful that the holiday weekend would help keep more people at home.
"If there has to be a good time for this storm, it helps that this is a holiday weekend," Omaha mayor Jean Stothert told Omaha.com.
National Weather Service meteorologist Cathy Zapotocny told the Lincoln Journal-Star that an ice storm of this magnitude hasn't hit Nebraska in 11 years.
Kansas
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported two deaths in separate crashes on dangerous Kansas roads Saturday.At about 5:40 p.m. Saturday evening, a vehicle skidded off the road at the intersection of KS-383 and KS-60 near Almena, according to a Kansas Highway Patrol report. The vehicle struck a bank and rolled, killing 19-year-old Takoda Turner, a passenger in the vehicle. The driver, 20-year-old Tyson Smith, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
About three hours later, a vehicle skidded off U54 west of Liberal, flipping multiple times after it went off the road. There were six people inside the car at the time of the crash, including 35-year-old Thay Torres-Ocacio, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Three other passengers were injured, including the driver, according to the police report.
Freezing rain contributed to many more accidents across the state Friday and Saturday.
NBC News reported two people were injured in a 20-car pileup near downtown Wichita on Saturday. By Sunday morning, a half-inch of ice was reported in Dodge City, and the state's biggest ice totals were observed in southwestern Kansas.
(MORE: Where Freezing Rain Accumulations Are Most Common in the U.S.)
Sunday's NFL playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs was moved from an early afternoon kickoff to prime time due to icy conditions from the winter storm. The game will now start at 8:20 p.m. CST to give road crews and public safety officials more time to treat roads and parking lots.
Oklahoma
Ice as thick as one inch downed tree limbs all over the Sooner State Sunday, and about 10,000 customers were without power Sunday afternoon, according to the AP.
An eerie sound of trees breaking as I walked around outside taking these pictures. Just lost power.
#icestorm2017 #icemageddon
#icestorm2017 #icemageddonTulsa officials said paramedics responded to 17 crashes on icy roads across the city Saturday, according to the Tulsa World. No life-threatening injuries were reported in any of those accidents, the report added.
KOTV said a pickup truck lost control on an icy highway and slid into an apartment complex Saturday morning in Tulsa at 7:30 a.m. local time. The local news outlet reported that the pickup crashed through a chain-link fence, smashed into a brick retaining wall and crashed into the side of a building at an apartment complex that was being used for storage.
Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for all counties in Oklahoma ahead of the storm.
For more information on the status of roadways in Oklahoma, click here.
Missouri
State officials worked around the clock to keep roads passable for as long as they could, but as the dangerous storm continued to dump frozen precipitation, residents were told to just stay home."We are keeping up with the changing conditions, but it is a continual battle," Becky Allmeroth, a state maintenance engineer for the state Department of Transportation, told the AP, adding that ice is "the most difficult storm to fight."
Missouri's two biggest airports had the most flight cancellations in the nation Sunday morning. According to FlightAware, at least two dozen flights into and out of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport were canceled Sunday morning, and at least 30 flights were called off at Kansas City International Airport.
Two #KHP Troopers have been struck this morning on I-635!#MOVEOVER & #SLOWDOWN
The roads are ICY! #StayHome
The roads are ICY! #StayHome
Maung Hnin, 35, was killed early Saturday morning when he was ejected from a vehicle in a large pileup in the southbound lane of Interstate 29. Missouri State Highway Patrol reported that the 2008 Ford Econoline was traveling in the left lane before veering off of the road and overturning, ejecting Hnin. The incident report states that Hnin was then struck by an unidentified vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene shortly thereafter by deputies from the Platte County Sheriff's Office.
Highway patrol officials would not comment on if the accident was weather-related, but several other vehicles were involved in the incident and as many as six people reported injuries ranging from minor to moderate.
(MORE: What Ice Storm Accumulations Mean and How to Stay Safe)
A Missouri woman who died in a fatal accident that occurred on northbound I-55 Friday morning was identified as 33-year-old Tiffany Jackson of Crystal City, Missouri, KMOV.com reported.
A Missouri Highway Patrol spokesperson told KMOX-TV that Jackson was driving too fast for conditions when she lost control of her vehicle on an ice-covered railroad bridge and slid into a tree. She was not wearing a seatbelt.
The Missouri Department of Transportation said roads in the area were partially covered at the time the vehicle slid off the road and into a tree. The Highway Patrol said it responded to about 100 crashes Friday.
Ameren Missouri, one of the primary utility companies in the state, reported very few outages Sunday morning. According to NBC News, about 30,000 homes and businesses were without power earlier in the storm. Gov. Eric Greitens declared a state of emergency and activated the state Emergency Operations Center ahead of the storm Thursday.
Texas
Nearly 5,000 customers were without power in the Texas Panhandle on Sunday, according to Xcel Energy. Areas like Canadian and Gruver reported a half-inch of ice Sunday, and that was weighing down trees and power lines to the point where some collapsed.Western Snow
Areas of the West were buried under feet of snow, up to 10 feet in some places in the Sierra Nevada. The sheer mass of snow caused damage to several other buildings in Bend, including a gymnasium roof at an elementary school. The school district said on its website that nobody was in the gym when the roof fell at Highland Magnet at Kenton School in Bend.Three visitors were rescued after snowstorms forced them to take refuge in a heated restroom at Crater Lake National Park. Park officials told the AP a rotary snow plow cleared a path on the three-mile road from park headquarters to Rim Village to reach the visitors Wednesday. Officials say none of them sustained major injuries.
Heavy snow closed a nearly 250-mile stretch of Interstate 80 in Wyoming Wednesday and Thursday due to dangerous driving conditions. The Colorado Department of Transportation briefly closed Interstate 70 westbound at mile marker 215 due to an avalanche that cut off the road west of the Eisenhower Tunnel. According to the DOT, no cars were caught in the slide.
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