KILLEEN, Texas — Emergency and road crews in Killeen continue to be on standby as Winter Storm Landon continues to blow over Central Texas.
According to city officials, there were several vehicle spinouts on the slick roads and about a dozen traffic accidents, but there were no reports of major issues.
Residents are reminded to keep their pets indoors during these freezing temperatures.
Officials say their sand trucks have been on the roadways applying sand at fire stations, police stations, bridges and other areas of concern like inclines and low-lying areas. The WS Young Bridge was closed Thursday, due to icing.
"The good news is that we had some snow that fell on the ground before things iced over, which is allowing for some traction and allowing for a much different situation than what we had last year,” said Killeen Fire Chief James Kubinski. “We had snow that melted and turned into ice and more snow that turned into ice day after day. Those made roads impassable. We are seeing some passable roads here."
Warming centers will be open in Killeen. The center locations and hours are as follows:
- Thursday to Friday, Feb. 3-4, 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., Moss Rose Center (1103 E Ave. E), dinner will be served at 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Feb. 5, 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., Rosa Hereford Community Center (2201 E. Veterans Memorial Boulevard)
"There will be a nice dinner and people can stay there and seek shelter," said Emergency Management Coordinator Peter Perez.
On Thursday, there were no major power outages reported in McLennan County. Around 500 homes were hit by spotty outages in the Killeen area.
Oncor said they prepared for the storm by trimming trees and inspecting power lines.
"As you know temperatures are going to get below freezing so anything that is wet is going to freeze rock solid in the overnight hours", said Oncor Meteorologist and spokesperson Jen Myers. "That is going to make for a treacherous travel. Of course, that increases the load on the trees. We are talking more ice, more snow, and more sleet that is going to weigh down those trees."
As a part of Oncor’s Mutual Assistance Program, 1,700 personnel are coming from out of state to help with outages in Texas.