Heavy Rain Hits U.S. Midsection; Jet Crash Kills 7

Snow blanketed the Plains on Friday, while fierce winds and heavy rain battered the nation’s midsection, where a commuter plane crashed in an Arkansas storm, killing seven.

The National Weather Service said powerful thunderstorms in Texas triggered strong winds, ripping off roofs and causing other damage in the Dallas and Lubbock areas. The storms produced more than 8 inches of snow in the panhandle that temporarily closed highways.

A tornado touched down west of Lufkin, Tex., and caused some property damage near Hudson. No injuries were immediately reported. The weather also was blamed for delaying flights at the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport.

A commuter jet diverted to Little Rock, Ark., because of stormy weather crashed and burned short of the Little Rock Regional Airport. Seven bodies were recovered from the wreckage near the runway, said Nancy Matthews, the emergency ward coordinator at the University of Arkansas Medical Center.

The flight originated in Kingsport, Tenn., and was bound for Batesville, Ark., but diverted to Little Rock, airport officials said. Witnesses said there was a downpour just minutes before the plane went down.

The aircraft apparently came in too low and bounced on two city streets just outside the airport boundary before it crashed, witnesses said.

In snowy Denver, a Continental Airlines jet slid off a snow-covered runway at Stapleton Airport Friday, while schools and offices closed early as the first major storm in more than a month gripped the state.

No damage or injuries were reported as Flight 1808 from Reno, Nev., skidded past the end of the runway, airport officials said. They said about 6 inches of snow had fallen at the airport, creating delays of up to 90 minutes and forcing numerous flight cancellations.