Crews prepare for icy roads ahead of potential winter storm

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Crews from state and local agencies are making serious preparations across the Houston area ahead of a potential ice storm.

Texas Department of Transportation officials said they'll be out pre-treating miles of roads across six counties in southeast Texas within the next 24 hours. They were waiting for a break in the rain before applying a brine-salt mix. The mix helps to stop ice from forming on bridges, overpasses and streets.

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"When water accumulates on a roadway, it won't ice because of the mixture," said Danny Perez with TxDOT. "Now, if we do get a situation where we do have ice on the road, we have a rock mix that we can place on the roadway for better traction. Ultimately, we want folks to be mindful not to get on the road. Stay at home. Hunker down especially as we get into Sunday, Monday and Tuesday."

ABC13 also learned Friday the City of Houston is rallying crews to pre-treat nearly 100 roads and bridges. They plan to start applying a mixture of magnesium chloride with sand. They were waiting to apply the mixture because roads were too wet Friday.

RELATED: Winter weather problems reported on Houston-area roads

Public works officials said if ice does appear over the weekend, they will send trucks out to address the roads. Crews also are standing by for reports of water leaks or fallen tree limbs. Anyone can report them by calling 311.

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WATCH: Witness describes icy crash on Magnolia overpass

A high school sophomore was one of several involved in the Friday morning pileup on a Montgomery County overpass as a thin sheet of ice made traveling nearly impossible.

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