Ice storm in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma kills at least 9

A brutal ice storm that walloped Texas and other parts of the South was expected to end Thursday after triggering treacherous travel conditions, widespread power outages and thousands of flight cancellations.  

At least nine people died in crashes on icy roads, including seven in Texas, one in Arkansas and one in Oklahoma, according to the Weather Channel. 

“The good news is that pretty much all of the ice storm warnings and watches have been allowed to expire,” Fox meteorologist Stephen McCloud told The Post Thursday.

“Most of the ice is really coming to an end pretty quickly. We’re getting scattered reports of freezing rain in central and southern Arkansas and parts of northern Texas, but it’s not at the level it was at yesterday at all.”

As warm air rushes in at the surface, precipitation will become rain instead of freezing as it had been earlier in the week, McCloud said.

The freezing rain caused massive disruptions of travel, mainly on highways, where emergency responders rushed to hundreds of car crashes and several dangerous pile-ups.

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All of the fatalities so far reported from the storm have been a result of crashes on icy roads. The frigid weather also caused more than 1,900 flight cancellations — with airports in Texas facing the brunt of the travel issues.

Even as the storm dissipates, over 500,000 people and businesses across the region reported power outages. By Thursday afternoon, there were over 425,000 outages in the state of Texas. Arkansas reported nearly 75,000 outages, Mississippi had about 24,000 and Tennessee had just over 20,000, according to PowerOutage.us.

Moisture from the Pacific moved into the southern region Monday night to combine with cold air and cause the deadly ice storm.

“Temperatures are moderating quickly. And the forecast Texas and Arkansas and even parts of Tennessee is where the temperatures continue to moderate throughout the rest of this week and into the weekend,” McCloud said.