A combination of freezing temperatures and continued rain overnight left much of the Dallas-Fort Worth area covered by a thin sheet of ice early Monday.

Conditions started deteriorating Sunday night. The Texas Department of Transportation reported ice accumulation on the handrails and slick conditions on Interstates 20 and 35E in Dallas. All overpasses of Spur 408 were closed Sunday night.

The streets services department was operating in “Ice Force Two” mode Sunday night, with 51 trucks on the road and 116 personnel monitoring and responding to icy conditions.

Late Sunday, National Weather Service meteorologist Tara Dudsik said that freezing rain and sleet were expected after midnight, and that about a quarter-inch of ice would be on the ground, followed by more light sleet in the morning. City officials prepared for possible ice accumulations up to 1 inch on bridges and overpasses.

“It’ll be messy,” Ms. Dudsik said.

Six recreation centers were made available as temporary shelter, and the Dallas Day Resource Center at 901 S. Ervay St. provided overnight shelter to homeless people.

More than 100 Dallas city officials and employees maintained an emergency operations center Sunday evening in preparation for the overnight weather.

The wintry weather was blamed for two deaths statewide. Several thousand customers lost power, and hundreds of airline flights and dozens of church services were cancelled. National Guard troops were placed on standby.

But the mercury hovered just above freezing at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport for much of the day Sunday, so roads were not as dangerous as had been feared.

Between 10 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, there were 71 weather-related accidents on Dallas streets.

“I thought there was going to be a lot more than that,” said Sgt. Gil Cerda, Dallas police spokesman. Between 2 and 9:30 p.m., 65 more accidents were reported in Dallas. Twenty-seven were considered major, but there were no fatalities.

The weather was a factor at D/FW Airport, where airlines canceled about 415 of about 950 Sunday flights. Thirty-three of Monday’s flights were canceled as of 9 p.m. Sunday.

At Dallas Love Field, Southwest Airlines canceled about 46 Sunday flights according to Paula Berg, a spokeswoman for the airline.

National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Bunting said that freezing water on tree branches and power lines could pose problems – and that 10 to 15 mph winds would threaten to entangle the lines or break the boughs, causing power outages.

The weight of ice caused a tree to fall onto a TXU Electric Delivery feeder line at Pear Ridge Apartments in the 4700 block of Old Bent Tree Lane late Sunday, knocking out power to the entire Far North Dallas complex. Dallas Fire Rescue officials set up a command post to assist the residents. Power was restored close to 7 p.m.

Sunday night, 4,600 homes and businesses in the area were without power. A TXU Electric Delivery representative said 2,500 of those outages were in Tarrant County and the other 2,100 were split

among Dallas, Denton and Collin counties.

“They are widely scattered, and a vast majority are weather related,” said Carol Peters, another TXU Electric Delivery

spokeswoman.

No state roads or bridges in the area had to be closed Sunday, according to Jodi Hodges of the Texas Department of Transportation.

Ms. Hodges said the most treacherous roads Sunday were in southern Tarrant and northern Johnson counties.

In Denton County, Interstate 35 north of the Denton city limits was icy. So, too, were bridges on U.S. Highway 380 east of the city.

“We’ve had a little barrage of accidents, and they’re clearing them up as we speak,” a sheriff’s dispatcher said Sunday morning.

In Plano, street crews sanded and salted the Dallas North Tollway and State Highway 121. Police said those thoroughfares were icy. And in Carrollton, police said there were a handful of reports that bridges over the Bush Turnpike were icy.

Despite the weather, events continued Sunday at 111th Annual Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth.

“The schedule is still on,” event spokeswoman Shanna Weaver said. “It’s just we are having a little bit lighter crowd, obviously.”

In Frisco, the weather forced the cancellation of several events at the AT&T Winter Games of Texas, including figure skating, cheerleading and soccer.

Not only did the weekend weather bring frigid temperatures, it dropped an inch of precipitation Saturday – a record for the date – at D/FW. On Sunday, the airport reported .28 inches from midnight to 8 p.m. with locally heavy rain hitting spots across North Texas.

“Ideally it would not cause the travel problems, but to put a positive note on it … in a drought situation the rainfall is welcome,” said Mr. Bunting of the weather service.

Staff Writers Jake Batsell, Gromer Jeffers Jr., and Jon Nielsen and Marissa Alanis and the Associated Press contributed to this report.