Icy weather nixes thousands of flights, leave thousands without power

Freezing rain along the eastern United States canceled flights and forced government offices in Washington to open late as the deadly storm pushed ahead. Flightaware.com reported more than 2,600 flights were canceled nationwide Sunday and 1,000 more were no-gos Monday as parts of states from central Virginia to southeastern New York could see up to a quarter-inch of ice fall through the day, CNN reported. The storm put the South in the deep freeze and has been blamed for several deaths in Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico, Minnesota and Pennsylvania since late last week, officials said. Most of the fatalities were on roadways and, in some cases, forced highway closures for several hours. Accuweather.com said enough freezing rain threatened to coat parts of the Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic and Northeast for some power outages and tree damage. Forecasters said the heaviest icing will target Kentucky and the Interstate 81 corridor in Virginia. Some residents in the Dallas suburb of Plano faced sheets of ice falling from buildings to the sidewalks and streets. "The apocalypse has started," one man told CNN shortly before the ice fell onto cars. A brief warming spell was enough for the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to open runways and begin outbound flights to take the thousands of travelers stranded at the airport Friday and Saturday, the Dallas Morning News reported. "When Mother Nature drops a hockey rink on your airport, there's only so much you can do," airport spokesman David Magana said. While temperatures were forecast to rise in Texas Monday, large sections of the West and northern Plains will struggle to hit 20 degrees Monday and Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. While the Gulf Coast and Southeast won't see the frigid temperatures and ice Monday, forecasters said many areas will experience heavy rain. In and around the nation's capital, more than 40,000 utility customers were without power early Monday as temperatures hovered around freezing, the Washington Post reported. While parts of the nation contended with ice, heavy snow spread across the mid-Atlantic states into the Northeast, AccuWeather.com said. A band of heavy snow spent Sunday spreading from north-central West Virginia to Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, as of 8 p.m. EST Sunday, Newark, Del., had received a foot of snow. The snow pushed toward Albany, N.Y., Sunday evening as the wintry, icy mix also kept travel slick from Pennsylvania to the I-81 corridor of Virginia.