Deadly Winter Weather Slams US Causing Crashes, School Bus Flips Over

Winter weather is striking in the Midwest and West this week, causing dangerous travel conditions and cutting power to thousands.

Freezing rain hit the Kansas City, Missouri, area, and more is expected – up to a quarter inch of ice is possible.

The icy conditions caused a school bus to overturn. Elese King called 911.

"It seems like I heard something tap, like a bump, and then I heard the big boom," she told KMBC. "I did make the phone call, and I did come out to see that the kids were getting pulled out by the monitor and the bus driver."

Fortunately, authorities report all the students only had minor injuries.

But that wasn't the case in other parts of Kansas and Missouri. Officials blamed the icy roadways for two separate crashes that killed three people.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory warning of freezing rain, snow and more cold weather from Nebraska through Michigan.

In central Michigan, an ice jam caused flooding along the Grand River. Officials evacuated around 50 people from their homes.

The winter warnings followed snow, ice and brutal cold out West in cities known for mild weather.

"It doesn't take but a little bit of snow to build up around vehicles, and if we're all stopped and we can't get going again, then we have to shut down the freeway to clear it out to get the tow trucks in, to get the plows through, to keep traffic flowing," Sgt. John Tyler of the California Highway Patrol told KABC.

North of California, in Washington State, KOMONews.com reports troopers responded to at least 170 spin-outs and crashes earlier this week in King County alone.

Back in the Midwest, major utilities say the winter weather left more than 50,000 customers without power in Michigan after trees and power lines were no match for the freezing rain.

And in the Northern Plains, dangerously cold temperatures settled in.

Forecasters expect winter storms moving into North Dakota and Western Minnesota to dump as much as a foot of snow and bring wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees.