Winter storm warning continues, many roads closed

Oklahoma City (AP) — Oklahoma highway officials say many roads are impassable in the state because of wintry weather, downed power lines or flooding.

Parts of western and central Oklahoma are under a winter storm warning until midday Monday while flooding is a major concern in the eastern part of the state.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation says roads are slick and hazardous in Woodward, Harper and Ellis counties in northwest Oklahoma. Interstate 35 is also slick in Cleveland County and near Purcell.

The department says high water has caused the closure of some roads in Atoka, Bryan, Cherokee, Coal, Haskell, Johnston, Latimer, Leflore, Love, Mayes, McCurtain, Muskogee, Nowata, Okfuskee, Ottawa, Pittsburg, Pushmataha, Sequoyah and Wagoner counties.

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The latest developments on the severe storms across the U.S. (all times local):

6:30 a.m.

Parts of 11 states in the middle of the country are under a winter storm warning as the weather system that spawned tornadoes in Texas and flooding in Missouri moves on.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for southern and eastern parts of Missouri, including St. Louis, and a small section of northern Arkansas. Most of Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, central Missouri and central Illinois are under a flood warning.

Forecasters say Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and parts of Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas will see winter weather conditions ranging from heavy snow to ice, accompanied by gusty winds.

Parts of the Southeast will see rain, while severe weather is possible in Mississippi.

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2:30 a.m.

Blizzard-like conditions have led to the closure of most of Interstate 40 from Albuquerque east across the Texas Panhandle.

New Mexico State Police spokeswoman Sgt. Elizabeth Armijo said Sunday night that the stretch of interstate from Albuquerque to the Texas border would be closed through at least Monday afternoon. She urged travelers passing through New Mexico to use Interstate 10 instead.

In Texas, the Texas Department of Public Safety says only a small section of the highway around Amarillo remains open. Texas State Trooper Cindy Barkley says deteriorating conditions forced authorities to indefinitely close the highway for about 100 miles east of Amarillo to Oklahoma.

I-40 is the main east-west highway through the state's Panhandle.

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning until 9 a.m. Monday for the Panhandle and several counties in New Mexico. Authorities say that even in areas where the warning has expired, residual blowing and drifting is expected and will make conditions dangerous.

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11:30 p.m.

A Missouri sheriff says four soldiers from another country who were temporarily stationed at Fort Leonard Wood are among the six people who have died in flooding in the state.

Pulaski County Sheriff Ronald Long said in a statement late Sunday night that a witness saw a car drive into a flooded roadway a day earlier. It was swept downstream. First responders found two men inside the sedan who apparently had drowned, and the bodies of two other men who had been in the car were found Sunday.

Long says the victims were "international soldiers" who were temporarily stationed at the central Missouri Army base for training. They were not immediately identified, pending notification of their families by the U.S. State Department, and the statement did not give their nationalities.

A message seeking further information was left with the base's media affairs department.

Long says it's possible that a fifth person was in the car because an acquaintance of the soldiers' is missing.

The statement says the other two people who died in flooding were the occupants of a vehicle that tried to cross a flooded road.

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9:30 p.m.

The National Weather Service says strong weekend storms produced nine tornadoes across North Texas.

The Dallas/Fort Worth forecast office issued a statement Sunday night confirming that nine tornadoes ranging from an EF-0 to an EF-4 touched down a night earlier. Eleven people were killed.

The Weather Service says not all the tornado damage has been examined and additional surveys are planned Monday. It says the number of tornadoes may go up.

Visit this website for road condition information websites and phone numbers for the Southern Plains area: http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/road_conditions.htm

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The Gayly – December 28, 2015 @ 7 a.m.