Icy Conditions Linger in Central U.S.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A third wave of sleet and drizzle could hit parts of the central U.S. on the eve of the Martin Luther king Jr. holiday, and temperatures threaten to stay near or below freezing and add to the treacherous mix.

Ice buildups of one-quarter to slightly less than a half inch were expected late Saturday and Sunday morning from southeastern Kansas to central Missouri.

Becky Allmeroth, a state maintenance engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation, says ice is "the most difficult storm to fight." Her department has been scrambling around the clock to treat the glazed roads.

Icy roads Saturday created dangerous conditions and travel headaches for many people who ignored authorities' pleas to stay indoors. The storm Saturday followed one a day earlier that dumped freezing rain from Oklahoma to southern Illinois.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Interstate 40 was closed in two places in western portions of the state because of wrecks, including the jackknifing of several tractor-trailers in icy conditions in Caddo County. The Highway Patrol says a 45-year-old Oklahoma City man who was driving one of the semitrailers died in the crash.