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Winter storm Fern has not caused the massive range of property destruction that Uri wrought in 2021, but a pair of recent deadly accidents in North Texas have given the 2026 winter storm a destructive identity all its own.
Reports indicate that more than 40 have died in the parts of the U.S. most heavily affected by the current storm, which has now spread across parts of six days. In 2021, the majority of the more than 240 deaths in Texas resulted from hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, and exacerbation of pre-existing chronic illnesses, many of whom were senior citizens. In North Texas this year, the deaths have been of younger people merely trying to enjoy the winter weather outside near their homes.
Frisco Sledding Accident
Sixteen-year-old Grace Brito, a Wakeland High School sophomore and cheer athlete, was pronounced dead on Tuesday night after being taken off life support following a Sunday accident.
Brito was sledding with her best friend, 16-year-old Elizabeth Angle, while being pulled by a Jeep Wrangler, driven by a teenager, according to police. Angle was killed on Sunday shortly after the sled carrying the two girls hit a curb and then a tree.
“We are a family of four – myself, my husband, Grace and Emma,” Brito’s mother, Tracy Brito wrote in a statement shared by CBS News. “Our family is heartbroken and devastated by the loss of our beautiful daughter, Gracie.”
“These sweet besties are together forever,” Elizabeth’s mother, Megan Angle, wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. “I find some comfort knowing they are in heaven together… They were holding on to each other on the sled. Our hearts go out to the Brito family. We are forever connected.”
Frisco school officials said Angle and Brito will be honored during the second period and counseling will be available when classes resume following the closure for the storm.
3 Brothers Die
About an hour northeast of Dallas in Fannin County, three brothers died on Monday after falling through the ice on a freezing pond. The mother of the three boys, who were reportedly ages 6, 8 and 9, and whose names have not been released by officials yet, told Fox 4 that she was nearby and got to the boys in the water quickly, but that it was too late to save any of them, given the temperature of the pond.
The boys’ mother, Cheyenne Hangaman, said she has now gone from having “six kids to three” and that some of her other children witnessed the incident as well.
“It was one of me and three of them, and they all needed me at one time. I just couldn’t… I couldn’t save them,” she told Fox 4. “I knew that they were already gone, and I needed to get myself together for the other two that watched the whole thing.”
According to the report, a letter Bonham ISD sent to parents said the district is “devastated by this unimaginable loss” and is working to provide support for the family.
Other Winter Storm Fern Deaths
A 17-year-old boy in Arkansas died on Jan. 24 after striking a tree when being pulled in a sled by an ATV.
Over the weekend, in the first couple of days of the storm, three senior citizens died in Pennsylvania while shoveling snow, authorities say. The manner of death has been ruled natural, with officials saying the deaths were “consistent with sudden medical events, often cardiac-related.” New York has also seen several adult deaths from hypothermia and cardiac-related medical issues while shoveling snow.
