Checking with law enforcement this morning, icing problems are moderate to heavy across Deep East Texas and Northwest Louisiana after sleet and freezing rain and drizzle covered the area beginning Tuesday afternoon through the overnight hours. There’s anywhere from just a slight covering to as much as a quarter-inch of ice covering roadways in the area. TxDOT is reminding you to avoid travel if at all possible. Crews have been out around the district monitoring and applying rock to bridges, overpasses and other areas as needed to help improve traction and safety.

In Shelby County, the sheriff’s office is reporting icing on bridges on 96 north of Center at Flat Fork, 96 south at Huana Creek and 7 East at Flat Fork. In addition, the overpass in Tenaha and in Joaquin has reported some icing issues.

No major issues in San Augustine County reported.

The ice has also brought with it power outages as icing on trees have caused breakage onto lines. Checking with Deep East Texas Electric this morning, they report Nacogdoches County has been the hardest hit, as around 1,000 customers are without electricity at this time, mostly in the Appleby, Hwy. 259, Hwy. 204 and FM 343 areas of Nacogdoches County.

DETEC says power outages in Shelby County are being reported in the Center, Tenaha and Timpson areas, where the Tennessee Community has been one of the harder hit. A main metering point is also affected in Panola County serving southern Panola and northern Shelby County with a couple hundred customers affected. DETEC dispatch says the problem they’ve seen has been their repair trucks being able to drive into the outage areas to make repairs. They’re working to get your power restored ASAP.

AEP SWEPCO has no power outages in Center or Tenaha, most of their problems are in Caddo Parish Louisiana with over 2,000 powerless, as well as Panola & Rusk County where they have from 100 to 500 customers without electric.