The roads in East Texas have become extremely dangerous.  Law enforcement officials in the area are not exaggerating when they say traveling on area roadways has become life-threatening.

Josh Coleman/Getty Images
Josh Coleman/Getty Images
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Compacted powdery snow on top of a sheet of freezing rain and sleet, combined with record-breaking low temperatures have turned even the most traveled highways into sheets of ice.  Keeping your balance while walking on these streets is a challenge, much less controlling a car or truck.  This has no longer become an issue of passing along the best practices of driving in wintry weather, now it's simply, STAY OFF THE ROADS!

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Driving around Lufkin, Nacogdoches, and surrounding areas has become exponentially more dangerous over the past few hours.  Police have been working more and more accidents since the late afternoon.  More and more cars have stalled in bone-numbing cold.  If you are involved in a crash, it could take a lot longer for help to arrive due to the higher volume of calls coming in, that means having to be exposed to temperatures in the single digits and teens.

According to the City of Lufkin, TxDOT typically treats Loop 287, but they are so inundated with issues on U.S. 59 and other major highways that the city's Street Department is taking over the responsibility of Loop 287.  The current road conditions go far beyond the capability of brine and sand.

The City of Lufkin's Street Department has one truck that has the capability of removing the ice which will allow them to properly treat the roadway but in order to do so quickly, Loop 287 needs to be clear of traffic.

As bad as road conditions are in the area, it looks as if things are only going to get worse.  Low temperatures near zero tonight will only act to solidify the ice and freeze whatever thaw that happened today.  We will only see a high near the freezing mark on Tuesday, thankfully under mostly sunny skies.  Hopefully that sun can act to melt some of the ice, however, another ice storm appears to be on the way.  A Winter Storm Warning will go into effect Tuesday evening and continue until noon on Thursday.

Much of what you hear on KICKS 105 on Tuesday and perhaps Wednesday will be done remotely.  Thankfully, the technology exists to where we can do breaks from our homes and not put ourselves and others in danger.  Many schools have closed or are moving to online classes this week.  Hopefully, many area businesses will get the message of putting safety first.

 

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