Meanwhile, more than 370,000 utility customers across Texas were without power as of early Thursday morning, according to outage-tracking website PowerOutage.us.
“Ice and tree limbs are still breaking as our lineworkers are working on restoration,” utility provider Austin Energy tweeted on Wednesday. As of early Thursday, the company had more than 154,700 customers without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
The utility company said some areas could be without power until Friday and noted that restoration efforts were also being hampered by accumulating ice and freezing temperatures.
As the storm neared its end, U.S. flight cancellations also appeared to dwindle after hundreds of flights were canceled this week due to the severe weather.
As of early Thursday morning, just under 670 flights within, into and out of the U.S. were canceled, according to online flight tracker FlightAware. At least 257 of those cancellations were related to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, while 48 were listed at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Dallas Love Field had just under 30 cancellations, according to FlightAware.
As the severe storm system exits over the Southeast, steady rain was likely Thursday from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Southeast, creating the possibility of isolated flooding, the National Weather Service said.
“The next impulse of arctic air to sweep into the nation from Canada is forecast to impact the northern Plains and Upper Midwest” on Thursday, it said. Wind chills could become “dangerously cold,” it warned, and areas with fresh snow cover could also face brief whiteout conditions due to gusty winds accompanying the arctic front.
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