COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Freezing rain and sleet played havoc with roads in central Ohio Tuesday, contributing to the deaths of three people in Columbus, officials said.
Police dealt with dozens of accidents Tuesday morning as ice accumulations built up on the city's streets and highways -- so many accidents that investigators in most parts of Columbus had stopped taking non-injury crash reports, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
Much of southern Ohio was coated with ice as well, causing numerous traffic accidents and minor injuries, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
The Ohio ice storm was part of a weather picture showing the deep U.S. South to New England being on the alert for ice and snow as sleet and rain hit northern Texas and states in the Northwest, forecasters said.
An estimated 48,000 people were without electrical power in northern Texas after ice downed utility lines Monday, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
The storm spread ice over Arkansas and western Tennessee with southern Texas through Virginia getting a mixture of ice and heavy rain, Accuweather.com reported.
By midweek, the storm system is forecast to join a weaker system moving across the northern Plains, resulting in a mix of snow and ice over the interior Northeast and New England.
A series of powerful Pacific storms continued to pound the Northwest with snow falling on Seattle and flood warnings posted for western Oregon, Washington state and the Columbia River Gorge.
In Utah, two people were injured Monday night when heavy snow and ice caused a 25-car pileup on the Interstate 15, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
