Hauntingly beautiful images emerge from deadly ice storms

Winter storms left large swaths of the central U.S. encased in sheets of ice this weekend.

Across the Midwest and southern Plains, roads, power lines, trees and windows glistened with an icy glaze. On Sunday, a third wave of sleet and drizzle continued to bear down on areas where temperatures hovered around freezing. 

Weather-related accidents reportedly killed three people in Missouri, two people in Kansas and a truck driver in Oklahoma. Thousands of people across the region were without electricity after ice encumbered power lines. 

But amid the storm’s destruction, residents still captured mesmerizing and serene images of the ice-coated region.

In Saint James, Missouri, the ice made for a particularly cinematic moment when Abrahm Beezley filmed himself jumping on the trampoline on his family farm. (As if backyard trampolines weren’t harrowing enough.)

Over in St. Louis, another 0.1 to 0.2 inches of ice was expected to fall on Sunday before the end of the storm, according to the National Weather Service. The agency issued an ice storm warning for the area and urged drivers to travel cautiously along the ice-slicked roads.

At the Missouri Botanical Garden, ice-coated tree branches and rows of delicate icicles made for a tranquil landscape. 

A driver in St. Louis showed how a thick ice sheet barricaded the car window, even as the windows rolled down.

In Kansas City, near the Missouri-Kansas border, one man took to ice skating on the sidewalk — with some canine assistance. To the city’s south, the third wave of storms dumped three-quarters of an inch of precipitation overnight, leaving the area coated in one-quarter of an inch of ice. 

A video from south-central Kansas showed power lines rippling with thick icicles. Ice buildup on overhead lines led to outages across the region, including for 11,000 customers in Oklahoma.

Many residents had prepared for the weekend’s ice storms by loading up on bread, milk and other essentials and by buying flashlights and generators in case their homes lost power.

Video credits: Car window (Instagram/bigfaf via Storyful); Dog skating (Instagram/curly23lmn via Storyful); Kansas power lines (Instagram/Devan Green via Storyful).

Associated Press contributed reporting.

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