Storm brings icy conditions

At least 3 dead from accidents

With Kansas and Missouri in the bull’s-eye, a winter storm descended on the nation’s midsection Saturday, bringing thick ice, dangerous driving conditions and power outages as it stretched its tentacles as far east as the mid-Atlantic.

There was little chance of a letup from the icy onslaught as another round of freezing rain was forecast for Sunday morning, keeping ice warnings in place for the two states, as well as Oklahoma.

Winter storm watches forecast up to three-quarters of an inch of ice and as much as three inches of snow across the central Plains and parts of Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska.

The National Weather Service said freezing rain would continue across a wide swath of north central Oklahoma, potentially bringing an additional 1.5 inches of ice accumulation to cities like Enid and Ponca City west and northwest of Oklahoma City.

Ice storm warnings were in effect from the Texas Panhandle to southern Illinois, with freezing rain advisories across parts of the Ohio Valley and the central Appalachians, the National Weather Service said.

At least three road deaths were blamed on the storm, including two in accidents in Missouri and one involving a semitrailer truck outside Weatherford, Okla.

The governors of Oklahoma and Missouri declared states of emergency, and the National Guard was mobilized in Missouri and Kansas.

In Kansas City, the NFL moved the AFC playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas Chiefs from noon to Sunday evening to allow more time to treat roads and stadium parking lots.