19 Die, Thousands Lose Power in Frigid Midwest, Texas Storms

Snowstorms and ice from Texas across the Midwest have caused at least 19 deaths since Sunday and triggered power outages affecting thousands, authorities said Tuesday.

Police said one man was found frozen to death in an alley behind a Dallas soup kitchen Monday. Another man died inside the cab of a pickup in Oklahoma City. A 52-year-old man was killed when his car rolled into a ditch in Butte County, S.D., on Monday. Bad weather played a role in the accident, police said.

Storms were involved in four traffic deaths in Missouri since Sunday, the highway patrol said. Earlier in the week, icy roads in western Michigan claimed two lives in traffic accidents.

Texas officials said at least nine people were killed in weather-related car accidents when a storm ripped through the state over the weekend, dumping up to 6 inches of snow.

The nation will get a chilly break from the storms until Friday, when another storm system is expected to develop in West Texas and move northeast, meteorologists said.

The system is forecast to form early Friday and roll from Saturday through Monday across Arkansas, southern Illinois and Indiana and into New England. Before that, cold weather should blanket much of the Midwest.