7 deaths reported from Texas ice storm, outages top 400K

Seven people have been reported dead from an ice storm that has hit Texas and caused more than 400,000 power outages across the state. 

The Weather Channel reported that the storm has caused dangerous icy road conditions that have caused vehicles to slide on the ice. The deaths began as early as Monday and have ticked up as the storm has progressed. 

A 49-year-old woman was killed Monday when she lost control of her pickup truck and hit a tree because of the icy roads, while a 45-year-old man died after he was thrown from his car after he lost control on an overpass. Another person was killed in a 10-car pileup in Austin on Tuesday. 

Three men also died on Wednesday after their vehicle crashed on an icy road. 

The storm has also frozen travel in the area. More than 250 flights, equal to almost 30 percent, were canceled on Thursday from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware. 

Three-quarters of flights from that airport were canceled on Wednesday, and more than 60 percent were canceled on Tuesday. 

Power outages have risen across the state over the course of the week. Most of the outages have been in counties in eastern and central Texas, according to the website PowerOutage.us. 

Almost a quarter of all households in Austin had lost power as of Wednesday afternoon as the storm took down power lines. The number did start to drop later in the day. 

The Weather Channel reported that the Texas utility CPS Energy said on Wednesday that outages would likely continue until potentially Thursday when temperatures would start to rise. 

The Texas Department of Transportation warned residents to stay off the roads if they do not need to drive and to be wary of traffic lights that have lost power if they must travel. 

Slippery roads were also reported in states such as Arkansas and Tennessee.