Winter Storm Blamed For At Least 7 Deaths As It Moves East

A big winter storm that moved east from Texas through Iowa is being blamed for at least seven deaths.

CNN reports that authorities in Kansas say four people died in car accidents caused by freezing rain and at least three people were killed because of flooding in a Dallas suburb.

CNN adds:

"A significant section of the United States — from western Texas through Oklahoma and Kansas and into western Arkansas — has been coping with a weather system that brought rain and freezing temperatures.

"Some 83,000 customers were without power in Oklahoma, according to utility company OG&E. There are numerous reports of trees down across the state. At least 400 utility crews have been deployed and they have restored power to 50,000, the company says."

Weather.com has a comprehensive accounting of the storm.

Accuweather collected some stunning pictures of the storm.

Here's a quick Vine of the aftermath in El Reno, Oklahoma:

Weather.com reports that forecaster are expecting the freezing rain to stick around today "from western Oklahoma to central Kansas, northwest Missouri and southwest Iowa."