Icy conditions in Texas lead to wrecks, outages

Winter weather brought ice to a wide swath of the United States on Tuesday, causing the cancellation of more than 1,500 flights nationwide, bringing traffic to a standstill on an interstate through Arkansas and knocking out power to thousands of Texans.

Numerous auto collisions were reported in Austin, Texas, with at least one fatality according to the Austin Fire Department. In Travis County, Texas, which includes Austin, police and sheriff’s deputies have been responding to new crashes about every three minutes since 8 a.m., according to the Austin-Travis County Traffic Report Page.About 7,000 power outages in Texas were reported as of late Tuesday morning. Fleets of emergency vehicles were fanned out among 1,600 roads impacted by the freeze.