5 Killed in Massive Crash on Icy Texas Interstate

Police say five people were killed Thursday in a massive crash involving 75 to 100 vehicles on an icy Texas interstate.

Fort Worth police say the number of injured is still unknown as they are still at working the accident.
A winter storm is dropping freezing rain, sleet and snow on parts of the U.S.

First responders took about 30 people to hospitals after the crash near downtown Fort Worth, MedStar spokesman Matt Zavadsky told the Star-Telegram newspaper. He said some of those people were critically injured.

Farther south, in Austin, more than two dozen vehicles were involved in a pileup on an icy road, and one person was injured, emergency officials said.

Elsewhere, ice storm warnings were in effect from Arkansas to Kentucky, while another winter storm was predicted to bring snow to Mid-Atlantic states, the National Weather Service said.

More than 125,000 homes and businesses were without electricity Thursday morning, largely in Kentucky and West Virginia, according to the website poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.

Meanwhile, officials in central Kentucky were urging people to stay home due to icy conditions.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said state offices would be closed due to the weather. He declared a state of emergency, which he said would free up funding and help agencies coordinate as they respond to reports of slick roads and downed power lines.

Crews were responding to numerous calls of downed icy tree limbs and power lines, Lexington police said in a tweet that urged people not to travel “unless absolutely necessary.”