Viewer Videos a Stark Reminder to Beware of Falling Ice

In some areas, ice accumulations reached four inches

As North Texans begin to thaw out from a massive ice storm, a viewer's video from an apartment building in Plano serves as a stark reminder to beware of falling ice.

For a couple of hours on Sunday, the temperature rose above freezing and some of the ice began to melt. In that short time, heavy sheets of ice were dislodged and slid from rooftops around North Texas.

In some cases, the ice fell harmlessly onto the street.  But in other cases, such as one caught on video in Plano, the heavy sheets of ice crashed down on a jaguar, a corvette and a number of other cars, smashing glass and collapsing the roofs on vehicles outside of the Shops at Legacy.

At the NorthSide at Legacy Sunday, Nicole Jaime grabbed her cell phone as a sheet of ice came crashing down on a car.

“It could've killed somebody when it went down, they would've been dead for sure.  Immediately after I stopped taping, the neighbors and I started warning people and they call[ed] 911,” said Jaime.

On Monday, at the Shops at Legacy, Plano police closed Bishop Road and taped off an additional area where ice continued to fall.  At about noon, maintenance crews began pushing the ice down, trying to reduce the threat.  A few stores will remain closed until the sidewalks are safe.

With temperatures expected to climb above freezing for several hours on Monday, more melting will occur -- and with that the potential for incredible injury from falling sheets of ice will rise.

In 2011, ahead of Super Bowl XLV, Severin Sampson was badly injured when ice and snow fell onto him from from 200 feet, atop Cowboys Stadium. The weight of the ice fractured his skull, ruptured his eardrum and left him with a brain injury. In an exclusive interview with NBC 5 in 2012, Sampson said he saw "a big giant boulder and a big sheet of ice behind the boulder" when he looked up -- and that it was falling too fast for him to get out of the way.  In all, six people were injured by falling ice at the stadium in 2011.

To keep yourself and your car safe, avoid parking under any awning or sloped roof where ice could slide and fall.  Also, use caution when walking near buildings, tall trees or anywhere where ice may have been built up.

At this time, there have been no recent reports of injury from falling ice.

NBC 5's Kendra Lyn contributed to this report.

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