Fort Worth police urged residents to stay home Thursday as ice and snow made driving dangerous. From 3 p.m. Wednesday through 5 a.m. Thursday, MedStar responded to 26 crashes with injuries, 173% more than the same period last week.
"You can't even see the street lines, the paint on the roads, because of the icy conditions," says Fort Worth Police Officer Buddy Calzada.
Calzada says officers still remember the six people who died in the chain reaction car crash involving more than 130 cars and trucks on I-35W north of Downtown Fort Worth last February.
"It's very sad. It makes us realize why we do what we do," he says. "We work harder. We work harder because we don't want any victims in our city for any kind of incident."
In Downtown Fort Worth, some people were out walking Thursday morning.
"We woke up this morning and weren't sure it would actually happen because you never know with the weather here," one man said who was looking for an open restaurant for breakfast. "It's always cool to see a change in scenery."
"This is absolutely crazy," said a woman who was taking pictures of the snow. "I had a whole, busy day scheduled. Like the rest of us, I had to cancel our work."
She said she wanted to go outside to see the snow but also empty streets in Downtown Fort Worth.
"God gave us this, so we're going to take and use it; make some magic," she said.
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