Rain, ice coat parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas

Flash flood watches are in effect for North Texas and parts of Arkansas and Missouri, while winter advisories and ice storm warnings were in effect in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, according to the National Weather Service.

Authorities say at least five people have died in accidents related to the ice storm, and thousands of people are without power.

“Until the water slows down, we can’t get into it or under it”, department spokesman Kyle Clay said early Saturday.

The motorist, a 70-year-old woman, got swept away in her vehicle after getting caught in high water overnight in Tarrant County, while two other people – including a woman whose auto was swept off a bridge – were found dead Friday morning in Johnson County. Freezing rain and strong winds have been blamed for several fatal accidents in Kansas and Texas since Thursday.

A wintry storm was pounding parts of the central Plains and Texas with heavy rain Saturday, threatening to coat some areas with risky layers of ice and exacerbating a flooding situation that has left at least three people dead near Dallas.

In Johnson County, south of Fort Worth, Texas, the Johnson County Emergency Management reported that four water rescues were underway off of Sky Road and on CR1014A. Mansfield firefighters rescued two men who were clinging to a tree downstream, and recovered the third man’s body downstream near Farm Road 917 between Mesquite Drive and English Trail in Johnson County, said Mansfield Police spokesman Thad Penkala.

A total 55.23 inches of rain has been recorded at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport this year, topping the annual rainfall record of 53.54 inches set in 1991.

Tarrant County Sheriff’s Deputy Krystal Salazar responded to the 911 call for the stranded driver in the 11600 block of Oak Grove Road near Crowley.

A sheriff’s spokeswoman said it wasn’t clear what role the wet roads had on a collision Friday afternoon on a US highway in South Dallas in which two children were killed.

The rains will continue Saturday night before a second band of weather coming up from Mexico slashes through the state Sunday, bringing an additional half-inch to an inch-and-a-quarter of rainfall, said Paul Walker, a senior meteorologist with Accuweather.

Icy states along highways in the panhandle will make it hard for vacation travelers, he said.

“We definitely understand that people travel to see family and friends (for Thanksgiving), and have to travel back home”.

The deputy has been treated and released from an area hospital.

He said motorists need to take “especially extra, extra caution when driving after dark in conditions like this”.