Winter storm hammers Texas Panhandle, South Plains

By Betsy Blaney

The Associated Press

Dozens of motorists filled emergency shelters Monday after being rescued from vehicles stalled in the worst blizzard of the season in the Texas Panhandle and South Plains.

North Texas was spared from the major snowfall, but not from powerful winds, which plowed through the region and caused numerous flight cancellations at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

Earlier on Monday, blizzard warnings extended from the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles into south-central Kansas. The blizzard warnings were dropped Monday evening for the far western portion of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. Meanwhile to the east, lines of thunderstorms crossed Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida, bringing heavy rain and an occasional tornado warning.

As many as 10,000 people lost power in Oklahoma, as did thousands more in Texas. Two people have died as of late Monday -- one in Kansas, the other in Oklahoma.

Chris McBee, a storm chaser, got stuck outside Woodward in northwest Oklahoma on Monday afternoon. By then, the city was leading Oklahoma's snowfall totals with 15 inches.

"We were planning to go back to Oklahoma City tonight, but the road was just impassable," McBee told The Associated Press. "You couldn't see 50 feet in front of you." A man with a bulldozer dug out McBee's vehicle.

"He's just helping people," McBee said, adding that he assumed the man was still out there. "We tried to pay him and he refused."

Colorado and New Mexico were the first to see the system Sunday night, with up to 2 feet falling in the foothills west of Denver.

As it moved into the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles Monday, the storm ground travel to a halt, closing miles of interstates and state highways.

In the Texas Panhandle, National Guard troops helped state and local authorities find and help motorists stranded in whiteout conditions.

Trooper David Hawthorne of the Texas Department of Public Safety in Amarillo said the guard members were helping state troopers, local deputies and police.

The American Red Cross set up two shelters for stranded motorists. Red Cross spokeswoman Martha Riddlesburger said that about 50 motorists stranded on Interstate 27 sought shelter in Tulia, about 50 miles south of Amarillo. Red Cross spokesman Steven Pair said 45 motorists stranded on Interstate 40 sought refuge at a shelter in Groom, 45 miles east of Amarillo.

In Amarillo, TxDOT said on its Twitter account that it was "a blizzard of historic proportions," and that I-40 was closed across the Panhandle between the Oklahoma and New Mexico borders. All roads in the Amarillo area were impassable.

The blizzard conditions also forced the Amarillo airport to close.

In Oklahoma City, airlines canceled flights ahead of the storm. Will Rogers World Airport tweeted that American Airlines "has canceled all flights after 12:55 p.m. today thru 10:40 a.m. tomorrow."

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Daniel Hawthorne said that about a dozen motorists had to be rescued, but no one was injured. The National Weather Service in Lubbock reported at one point that as many as 100 vehicles were at a standstill on Interstate 27.

Extremely strong winds whipped around a foot or more of snow in the Panhandle, and a hurricane-force gust of 75 mph was recorded at the Amarillo airport.

Amarillo recorded the biggest snowfall total in Texas -- 19 inches, just short of the record of 19.3 -- while Fritch was second with 16.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed all highways in the Panhandle and much of the state's northwest because of blizzard conditions.

Meanwhile in North Texas, high winds, nearing 40 mph, forced airlines at DFW Airport to cancel about 100 flight departures on Monday afternoon.

The airport clocked top gusts at 38 mph around 4 p.m., but an hour later, they decreased to 32 mph, said the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

Gusts reached 43 mph Monday in Burleson and 53 mph in Temple, said Nick Hampshire, a meteorologist in the Fort Worth office.

David Magana, DFW Airport spokesman, said airport officials expected "possible delays or cancellations," so they enabled the airport's irregular operations plan for Monday night. He said that those measures kept concessionaires and some security checkpoints open past normal hours to accommodate passengers who had to alter travel plans.

American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said Monday evening that there were 250 cancellations systemwide. , which includes American Eagle. Of those, 220 were weather cancellations, both arriving and departing at DFW. Staff writers Bill Hanna, Andrea Ahles and Bill Miller contributed to this report.

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