An abnormally early but powerful ice storm has crippled large swaths of Oklahoma, causing power outages for hundreds of thousands and toppling thousands of trees.

Power lines, already sagging under the weight of sometimes 2-inch thick ice casings, continue to crash over homes and other buildings, setting many of them ablaze. The Oklahoma City Fire Department has been issuing updates on new fires since the storm descended on Oklahoma City.

From October 26 to 28, an ice storm, bringing snow from New Mexico into the state of Oklahoma and northern Texas, left over 400,000 people without power in Oklahoma for multiple days, with over 40,000 still without power 10 days after. Oklahoma Gas & Electric called it “the worst storm in our company’s history”. The storm was especially damaging because leaves were still on the trees and other tall vegetation, causing large limbs to break and fall onto power lines and city streets due to the extra weight.^[247]

(Source: NPR and Wikipedia)