US ice storm causes blackouts, delays in Texas and Arkansas

Freezing weather in the US gripped parts of Texas and Arkansas today, with hundreds of thousands of people coping in the cold without power after a winter storm made roads impassable and caused severe flight delays.

More than 3,300 travellers were forced to sleep on cots overnight at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where workers had managed to thaw only two of its seven runways by this morning.

Airlines cancelled more than 350 flights from DFW that were scheduled for Saturday, the airport said in a statement.

At the height of the storm, some 267,000 electricity outages were reported in Texas, according to utility provider Oncor, but that number was down to about 130,000 early today. Oncor said it hoped to get power restored to "nearly all" of its customers by tomorrow night.

Forecasters predicted sub-zero temperatures and icy conditions in the region for the rest of the weekend, with layers of ice and sleet up to 3 inches thick around Dallas. The city has already cancelled a marathon planned for tomorrow.

Cold weather was due to roll into the northeast tomorrow and Monday. Accuweather predicted a "wintry mess" of ice, freezing rain and some of the first snow accumulations of the season from Virginia to New England, which may cause further travel delays.

Reuters